DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z March 17, 2012
Central and Southeastern US: Similar to yesterday, numerous fires and scattered smoke plumes were analyzed over the Central and Southeastern US. Some cloudiness in both regions likely interfered with additional smoke detection in satellite imagery. Gulf of Mexico: The remnant thin density smoke from fires over the past couple of days which was visible over the Gulf of Mexico continued to move to the west and northwest during the afternoon. Some of the very thin density smoke may have moved back inland over portions of far southeastern Louisiana, as well as extreme southern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle. JS Earlier This Morning... Northeastern Gulf of Mexico: A rather large area of light remnant smoke can be seen over the northeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico moving off the Florida coast. This is most likely leftover smoke and new smoke from the numerous agricultural fires in Florida as well as throughout the southeastern US. Off the US Southeast Coast: A thin area of what appears to be light smoke can be seen off of the South Carolina/Georgia coastline. This likely remnant from thee numerous agricultural fires burning throughout the southeastern US over the past several days. Mid and Upper Mississippi Valley: An area of unknown aerosols possibly mixed with some remnant light smoke can be seen from central and eastern Missouri northwards into Iowa, southern and central Minnesota and eastward into western portions of Wisconsin and northwest Illinois. -Belge 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