DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z May 1, 2011
Gulf of Mexico through Ohio/Mississippi River Valleys: A large area of mostly light smoke can be seen in this evening's satellite imagery stretching through the central and western portions of the Gulf of Mexico. Across the continental United States, the leading edge of the smoke plume extends along line passing through Pensacola, Birmingham, Chattanooga and Charleston, WV. Atlanta, GA and Asheville, NC were near the smoke plume by sunset. This eastward moving remnant smoke originated from agricultural burns in Mexico and Central America as well as the numerous wildfires that are continuing to burn through southern and western Texas and northern Mexico. Blowing Dust/Sand: White Sands: An area of blowing dust originating in White Sands around 2115Z was observed moving north-eastward into Chaves County, NM this evening. Southern Nevada, Central and Southern California, and Arizona: Possible blowing dust and/or sand can be seen moving south and east over the California/Nevada border and central Arizona. The origin of this dust/sand mixture is unknown. Gulf of California and NE Mexico: Blowing dust from the desert regions in the Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur was moving to the south and east and over the open waters of the Gulf of California. Some smoke from agricultural fires also mixed with the dust. Additional dust plumes originating in western portions of Sonora moved south-eastward and into interior sections of Mexico. Chihuahua, New Mexico and Texas: Blowing dust originating in northern Chihuahua moved north-eastward and into the United States over southern New Mexico and El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in Texas. It is highly likely that smoke has mixed with the blowing dust due to the numerous wildfires in northern Mexico. 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