DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z March 8, 2012

Nevada:
An area of blowing dust originated in Esmeralda County this evening and
moved into western Nye County (NV) and Inyo County (CA).  An additional
area began near the White Pine/Eureka County border and moved southeast
into eastern Nye County.

New Mexico/Chihuahua:
Blowing sand and dust from White Sands moved to the northeast throughout
the evening.  Additional dust streams began in southern New Mexico in
Dona Ana, Otero, and Eddy Counties.  Numerous areas of dust also started
in northern Chihuahua.  All of this dust moved to the northeast and
approached the Oklahoma panhandle by sunset.

California:
A general area of haze and unknown aerosol was visible over the Pacific
Ocean, especially near the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and San
Diego.

Baja California/Sonora:
A general area of haze and unknown aerosol was visible over northern Baja
California, the Gulf of California, and Sonora tonight.  It is likely
that this haze contains dust which has been suspended in the atmosphere
for the last few days.  Some blowing dust also originated to the west
of Caborca, Mexico (Sonora) and this moved to the southeast.

Southeastern US:
Even though many agricultural fires were detected, smoke was not visible
due to heavy cloud cover across the United States today.

Myrga


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.