DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z April 25, 2011
Northern Plains/Midwest/Southwest Canada: A thin and large area of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen stretching from northeast British Columbia southeastward across Canada into the northern Plains of the United States and across part of the Midwest just southwest of Lake Superior. In the US, this aerosol covered portions of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the U.P. of Michigan. This aerosol could be remnant dust from eastern Asia that had been moving across the Aleutians over a week ago, but it cannot be certain. Texas/Northeast Mexico: An area of thin to moderate density smoke was present over northeast Mexico, central/northeast Texas, and extreme south central Oklahoma this morning. Clouds likely obscured the full extent of the smoke in Texas. This remnant smoke is likely from the fires that were burning in northern Mexico, west Texas, and southern New Mexico yesterday. Gulf of Mexico/South Florida: Remnant smoke from Mexico could be seen drifting northward across the western Gulf today towards the Texas and Louisiana coasts. In addition thin smoke was emanating from western Cuba to the northwest. A very small patch of thin smoke was seen crossing the waters just southeast of the Florida Keys and likely came from one of the fires in the Bahamas yesterday given the easterly flow over this region today. Mid-Atlantic Coast: A thin unknown aerosol was seen rotating northeastward along a frontal boundary today off the Virginia/Maryland/Delaware/New Jersey coasts. It is not believed to be remnant smoke but its actual composition is not known. Sheffler 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