Thursday, April 19, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0232Z April 20, 2012

Southern and Central Plains/Northern Mexico:
A large area of thin remnant smoke extended from northern Mexico
northeastward across Texas/Oklahoma/east Kansas/northwest Arkansas/and
Missouri as it is being drawn into the storm system over the Central
Plains. The bulk of this smoke is from fires that have been burning in
northwest Mexico over the last several days.

An area of blowing dust can be seen originating from Chihuahua, Mexico
blowing east/southeast through the El Paso area in southwest Texas.

Eastern Gulf of Mexico:
A plume of thin remnant smoke, probably mixed with other aerosols, was
visible over the eastern Gulf today mainly along a frontal boundary. The
smoke/aerosols extended from the Yucatan Peninsula northeastward and
likely came from fires in Mexico/Central America.

Western/South Central Canada:
An aerosol that may be elevated dust particles from Asia could be seen
stretching from western Northwest Territories southeast across Canada
crossing portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario before
disappearing due to cloudiness over central Ontario.

Sheffler/Vogt

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.