DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z April 17, 2012
Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US: Thin to moderate density remnant smoke could be seen this morning streaming off the East Coast of the US. It was most dense east of the Virginia/North Carolina border and south of Maine. This smoke, which stretched from the South Carolina coast to near Nova Scotia, is the result of numerous fires in the eastern US over the past few days that have been producing smoke. Central US/Midwest/Great Lakes: Unknown aerosol could be seen in GOES-W imagery stretching from northern Texas to Minnesota and even further northeastward across Ontario in southern Canada. The aerosol also extended northeastward across Missouri/Iowa/Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana and lower Michigan before disappearing. This aerosol could have some smoke content from fires in Kansas/Oklahoma yesterday but it seems more likely that the aerosol is elevated dust particles. Gulf of Mexico: Some remnant smoke from Mexican fires may still be present in the western Gulf of Mexico, but it was partially obscured by cloud cover this morning making it difficult to discern. Northwest Mexico: Remnant smoke from fires burning in the Mexican state of Durango had produced an area of thin remnant smoke that was slowly drifting northwest. Sheffler 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