DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z October 27, 2011
Southwestern US/Northwestern Mexico: An area of mainly thin density blowing dust was visible moving to the southeast during the afternoon and early evening across interior southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, northwestern Mexico, and the Gulf of California. A moderately dense plume of blowing dust was observed emanating from a point source in eastern La Paz County of southwestern Arizona. This particular dust plume moved to the southeast, passing to the south of the Phoenix metro area prior to sunset. Southeastern US: Numerous fires producing visible smoke in satellite imagery were analyzed from Louisiana eastward to the Carolinas and far southern Virginia. Most of the smoke moved to the north or northeast during the day. South Central Canada: Many fires were detected particularly over south central Saskatchewan during the day, but very little smoke was visible in satellite imagery. Northwestern US/Southwestern Canada: Quite a few fires were evident especially over northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, and southern British Columbia. However, cloudiness moving across the region interfered with smoke detection in satellite imagery. JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE 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 ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov