DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z February 28, 2012
Central US: A large number of fires along with numerous smoke plumes were analyzed across the region centered around Missouri and Arkansas during the day. Significant cloudiness was spread over the South Central and Southeastern US which greatly limited fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. Southwestern US: Several patches of thin density blowing dust were visible during the late afternoon over portions of Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico. Gusty southerly and southwesterly winds ahead of a developing storm system were responsible for the dust. Streaks of blowing dust emanated from sources in Coconino and Navajo counties of north central Arizona and spread into southern Utah. Other areas of blowing dust originated from sources to the south and southwest of Phoenix and also over northwestern Mexico. The dust over northwestern Mexico moved into south central Arizona just before sunset. A long swath of what is likely dust was visible extending from far western Arizona and southeastern California southward across Baja and the Gulf of California and over the eastern Pacific west of Baja. Some of this dust likely originated from local sources over southeastern California and Baja. It is also possible that some of the dust in this region may have originated in Asia. Cloudiness across portions of the Southwest did interfere with additional detection of aerosol/dust. JS Earlier this Morning... Ohio River Valley: A lightly-dense remnant smoke plume was seen drifting slowly eastward across portions of the Ohio River Valley this morning. Smoke extends from western Ohio back to the southwest across southern Indiana, western Kentucky, southern Illinois, south-eastern Missouri, southwestern Tennessee and over northeastern Arkansas. Area of smoke is likely from several fires that were seen burning yesterday across portions of Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri. Furthermore, some remnant dust particles from the dust storm two days ago originating from western Kansas/panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas may be getting mixed in with this area of remnant smoke along its western edge. Warren 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