Thursday, April 28, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z April 29, 2011

**UPDATE FOR CENTRAL US**

North-Central US:
A thin ribbon of aerosols extends north to south and moving to the
east can be seen over southern Manitoba, Minnesota, Ohio and Missouri.
The origin of these aerosols is unknown.

Gulf of Mexico:
A large area of light to moderately dense smoke extends from northern
Mexico/southern Texas, across the Gulf and through central Florida where
it becomes obscured by clouds.  This smoke is likely remnant smoke from
fires throughout Texas and Mexico.

Texas:
The majority of southern Texas is covered by light to moderately dense
smoke from fires in northern Mexico and southern Texas.

California/Nevada:
An area of aerosol of unknown origin can be seen extending from the
Pacific, across central California and into Nevada.

-Salemi

Earlier:
Eastern Texas/Gulf of Mexico:
Remnant smoke from wildfires in Texas and northern Mexico continues to
linger in the western Gulf of Mexico and southern Texas, especially south
of San Antonio and Houston.   This smoke is generally moving to the east,
behind the frontal boundary which recently passed through the area.

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.