DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0045Z March 11, 2013
Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana: Thin smoke and pollutants (oil rigs in Gulf of Campeche) cover a large portion of the western Gulf (West of 91W) of Mexico from Tabasco/Vera Cruz northward into shield of low level weather clouds in the vicinity of a cold front except for a small sliver of Mexican/S TX coastline behind the front (see sand description below). This smoke then turns a bit east of due North to cover central and eastern LA, with a pocket of isolated smoke (along a NW-SE boundary or effective warm front around the mouth of the Mississippi River. It is possible that this smoke is remnants from a large area of GA/FL smoke that was emitted a 2-3 days ago. Dust/Sand: Tamaulipas/Extreme Western Gulf of Mexico Coastal sand patches SE of Matamoros, Mexico (S of Brownsville, TX) and other coastal beachs along the Laguna Madre are producing moderately dense plume of sand that is moving due south & SSW along the Mexican coast under the influence of strong north-northeasterly winds behind the cold front. The sand covers a large portion of coastal Tamaulipas down to around Tampico, MX West Texas: A moderately dense patch of blowing dust/soils covers much of W Texas counties of Midland, Glasscock, Upton and Reagan moving into Crockett and Irion counties. This patch is embedded within a much larger thin density area that covers nearly all the counties east of the Pecos River from Crockett county north to around Oldham/Deaf Smith counties and as far East as Tom Green and Dawson counties. This area is moving SSE. Gallina Earlier today Dust/Sand: S Texas/Coahuila: An area of remnant dust/sand is captured in early visible satellite images from GOES-WEST across eastern portions of the Mexican state of Coahulia and also portions of southern Texas, along the Texas/Coahulia border. This area of remnant dust is drifting to the south-southwest. There were several areas of blowing dust/sand triggered by yesterday's strong winds across NM/west TX/northern Mexico and it is believed that this area seen this morning is likely a component of what is leftover from that event. Warren 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