DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z May 26, 2012
Smoke: US: Earlier Today: The Baldy/Whitewater fire continues to generate large amounts of dense smoke. The smoke from this fire now extends from New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and into Ohio. The smoke varies from moderately dense to light through most of these areas with the dense smoke plumes staying close to the source. Presently, the moderately dense smoke has moved farther S into the Gulf of Mexico and farther E into central Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The moderate smoke also covers a large section of the Mississippi Valley. Southwest Ontario: Smoke from a large wildfire in southern Quebec is producing very thick smoke moving ENE into western Ontario. The fire has increased in size throughout the day. There are additional fires burning into Ontario/Quebec, but due cloud cover most smoke cannot be seen. Florida: A large fire burning in Sarasota county is producing mostly moderate smoke moving WSW into the Gulf of Mexico. Another large fire burning in Alachua county is emitting moderate to heavy smoke SW into Marion, Citrus and Levy counties. Georgia: A large fire burning in Liberty county is producing light to moderate smoke moving SSW across SE Georgia. Some of the smoke is beginning to reach N Florida. Michigan: A fire in Luce county is producing very thick smoke moving SE into Mackinac and Chippewa counties. Earlier in the day very thick smoke was moving NE into southern Quebec. Dust/Sand: Large areas of dust/sand throughout the southwestern US with most areas of dust/sand moving in a E to NE direction. Detail below: California: Imperial County (33.0N/115.9W) Dust/sand moving east into southwest Arizona. There is a fire burning in central San Diego county producing mostly light to some moderate smoke and combining with the dust. Riverside and San Bernardino Counties (34.0N/115.1W) Dust/sand moving NE into southern Nevada. Arizona: Maricopa county (32.8N/113.3W) Dust/sand moving NE into neighboring counties across western Arizona. Central Coconino county (35.4N/110.9W) Dust/sand moving NE into southern/eastern Utah and western Colorado. Northern Apache county – Dust/sand moving NE into SE Utah and SW Colorado. New Mexico: San Juan County (36.0N/108.6W) Dust/sand moving NE into S Colorado. - J Kibler 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