DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z May 23, 2012
Blowing Sand/Dust: A large ribbon of suspected blowing dust/sand is located in the western half of the United States. The ribbon extends from southern Oregon, through southern Idaho and northern Utah where it turns north. From northern Utah, the sand/dust stretches through central Wyoming, southeastern Nebraska, northwestern North Dakota and into Manitoba, Canada where it becomes obscured by cloud cover. This dust/sand is likely a mix of blowing dust/sand throughout the western-most US mixed with blowing dust/sand from Siberia. Southern US: The Baldy fire in southeastern New Mexico is generating dense smoke which extends throughout southern New Mexico, into western Texas and north-central Mexico. Central US: Light to moderately dense smoke was located throughout the entire central US this morning. -Salemi 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