DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0015Z April 3, 2012
Wisconsin to South Carolina: An elongated area of mostly light smoke was seen stretching from southern Wisconsin through much of Illinois, southern Indiana, much of Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and all of South Carolina and then extending off the coast into the Atlantic. This area of smoke was pooled along a frontal system across the area and is remnant smoke from days of agricultural and prescribe burning in the Central Plains. Western Gulf and Texas/Louisiana Coasts: Remnant light smoke from the seasonal burning in Central America has drifted north across the western Gulf of Mexico and now covers much of the Gulf west of 90W and has pushed as far west as San Antonio and west of McAllen. Smoke may have also drifted further north into eastern Oklahoma but clouds over the area have inhibited this determination. Arkansas/Missouri/Kansas: Numerous fires were burning across southern Missouri, northern Arkansas and eastern Kansas with associated smoke plumes that were moving to the north. Blowing Dust A deep storm center over New Mexico was producing strong winds over the southwest Plains from northern Mexico into west Texas that was kicking up a broad area of blowing dust. The dust was mainly originating from several sources in northern Chihuahua and west Texas in the vicinity of Midland and Lubbock. The dust was curling counterclockwise across the region and extended to near Wichita Falls and the Texas Panhandle by sunset. Another smaller area of blowing dust was seen this afternoon north of the storm center in the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve of south central Colorado. This area was moving o the west. Remnant blowing dust was mixing with some smoke from the fires noted above and moving north northeast ahead of a cold front and extended from eastern Kansas into Iowa. An area of blowing dust was detected moving south into the northern Gulf of California. 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