Wednesday, April 13, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z April 14, 2011


Gulf of Mexico:
Smoke from the ongoing seasonal fires burning in Mexico and Central
America Continues to spread northward into the central and western Gulf of
Mexico. Some of this smoke has likely moved inland over southern Louisiana
and southern and southeastern Texas although cloudiness interfered with
determining the full extent of the smoke. More smoke also stretched to
the east across the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and southern Florida to
at least as far east as the Bahamas.

Southeastern US:
Many smoke producing fires were analyzed today across the Southeastern
US with the greatest concentration over southwestern Georgia and the
Florida panhandle.

South Central and Central US:
Remnant moderately dense to even locally dense smoke leftover from
yesterday's fires in the Central Plains moved little during the
day hanging over the region stretching from west central Missouri to
western Iowa. Thinner smoke extended even farther to the north reaching
eastern Nebraska, southern Minnesota, and western Wisconsin. Many more
seasonal fires were again detected during the day across eastern Kansas
and northeastern Oklahoma which produced an area of thin to moderately
dense smoke which moved to the north during the afternoon. Farther to
the southeast, a number of individual moderately dense to locally dense
smoke plumes were visible from fires over eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas,
and southern Missouri. Finally, several fires were analyzed across Texas
during the day, but extensive cloudiness prevented smoke detection in
satellite imagery. However, it is believed that significant smoke was
likely still being produced by a few of the fires in west central and
southwestern Texas. Clouds also interfered with smoke detection from
the ongoing huge fires burning in north central Mexico. Only a small
glimpse of the smoke occurred through breaks in the clouds.

Southwestern and Western US:
An area of what is believed to be dust transported across the Pacific
from Asia was visible moving into a good portion of California as well as
southern Oregon late in the day. More blowing dust was observed inland
across southeastern California, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona,
and southern Utah. The sources for this blowing dust were believed to
be regional. Farther to the southeast, blowing dust was visible moving
to the northeast from White Sands in south central New Mexico and from
sources just south of the New Mexico border in northern Mexico.

JS

Earlier Today...
Midwest:
Moderate smoke is visible over central Missouri and Dallas/Fort Worth
Metroplex. This smoke is likely from the numerous agricultural burns in
the Midwest during the past few days, specifically Kansas.  Also, the
numerous wildfires in Texas may have contributed to the smoke/atmospheric
aerosol around the Metroplex.

Arkansas:
Several areas of light smoke are present on visible satellite imagery in
Arkansas. An aerosol, which is believed to be remnant smoke, is moving
eastward along the Arkansas/Louisiana border and another is moving
eastward through the Ozarks.

Gulf of Mexico:
Remnant smoke continues to be present in the Gulf of Mexico.   Smoke
extends from a line from Fort Myers, FL to Lake Charles, LA and points to
the south and west. Only the northeastern corner of the Gulf of Mexico
appears smoke/aerosol free on visible satellite imagery.   The numerous
agricultural burns along the Gulf Coast and Central America/Mexico are
believed to be the source of this smoke.

Myrga




THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.