DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0030Z March 24th, 2013
Smoke Gulf of Mexico: An extremely large area of smoke covers nearly the entire Gulf of Mexico from TX to the Bay of Campeche across the Strait of Yucatan to the west coast of Florida, though each area is of different densities and source regions: E Gulf: A few north-south oriented plumes of thin smoke that originated from Cuba last night have been moving WNW across the western FL Keys to the Eastern Gulf and melding with the smoke described below. Central Gulf: Smoke from yesterday's emissions across Mexico (both the Yucatan Penisula and fires in the Sierra Madre Oriental is covering a much of the Gulf from 89W to 94W as far north as LA and MS coasts and is particularly dense around 24-26N. This is all moving NE quickly. New smoke from Yucatan fires is beginning to cover the eastern Bay of Campeche and Gulf north of the state of Yucatan. NW Gulf: Moderately dense smoke across the NW Gulf around 95W and 27N is nearly stationary or moving a bit E of due south as sfc trof develops into a frontal zone/sfc cyclone. It is the convergence of the flow that is leading to the increased density... as the smoke originated from the same smoke seen across the central Gulf above. SW Gulf: New large fires across San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Puebla are producing a large area of thin smoke that extends due east (likely at a slightly higher altitude) as far as 95W. One fire near Pico de Orizaba in eastern Puebla is producing a 25-35km wide plume of dense smoke. Likewise a fire along the San Luis Potsi/Queretaro state line is producing a 50km wide plume of dense smoke. Dust/Sand Southern Plains/Eastern Desert SW: A large are of strong westerly winds is picking up loose soils/sand/dust across nearly all source regions from the Laguna de Guzman dry lake beds of northern Chihuahua, deserts of Luna and E Grant county in NM, White Sands and Laguna de Perro as well as sources further north to around Santa Fe/Las Vegas(NM). The sand/dust is very dense across the western panhandle of TX particularly in a line along the E-W Texas/NM border as far as Midland/Odessa and the Pecos River/Big Bend area along the Rio Grande. Further north, the dust/sand extends much further east (given stronger winds) and covers the the N TX panhandle and can be seen moving over the low fog layer in SW OK. S CO/NW NM/TX Panhandle: Very strong northerly surface winds (behind the cold front) is kicking up moderate dust with a dense leading line that can be seen extending from Las Vegas, NM across to Clovis, NM into the central N TX panhandle where it becomes difficult to differentiate with eastward moving dust/sand and upper level clouds. US West Coast/Pacific: Very light density Asian dust could be seen moving due south along the Central CA coastline and due south along 125W to around 33N. Higher density dust/sand can be seen in the Aleutian Islands (far SW Alaskan peninsula) moving SW, though the higher albedo of this area could be due to sun angle/limb of the satellite view. This area is forecast to continue eastward possibly affecting WA/OR and BC early in the week. Gallina 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