Tuesday, February 28, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2345Z February 28, 2012

Southwestern US/Southern Plains/Northern Mexico:
A developing potent and large storm system in the Central Plains is
bringing very strong winds, in excess of 50mph in some areas, that have
whipped up a broad area of significant blowing dust. The dust is being
generated over multiple areas from northern Chihuahua, eastern New Mexico,
western Texas and the Texas Panhandle, southeast Colorado, the Oklahoma
Panhandle and western Kansas. This large mass of dust is moving to the
east and northeast with the leading edge reaching southeast Nebraska,
central Kansas, central Oklahoma and roughly a Wichita Falls/Abilene
line by sunset.

An area of light aerosol, believed to be long range trans Pacific dust
based on the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System forecast,
was seen over southern California, southern Arizona, northern Baja and
Sonora and extending into adjacent areas of the Pacific.

Cuba/Bahamas:
Numerous fires on Cuba were producing modest smoke plumes that were mainly
light density and moving to the west across the southeast Gulf of Mexico
and northern Caribbean. A fire on Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas
was generating a smoke plume that extended to the west and was moving
toward West Palm Beach.

New Jersey:
Numerous fires over central New Jersey were generating light smoke plumes
that were moving to the east and off the coast into the Atlantic.

Ruminski

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

 


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.