DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 18, 2013
Gulf of Mexico: Southeasterly flow brought a thick aerosol onshore over Texas throughout the day. The aerosol is believed to be mostly composed of smoke from Mexican fires that has been pooling over the Gulf of Mexico. By sunset the moderate density aerosol covered much of east Texas reaching ~102 W by sunset. Blowing Dust/Sand: An large area of moderate to heavy blowing sand/dust was visible this evening originating from northern Chihuahua and southern New Mexico including the White Sands region. Blowing dust/sand moved northeast across eastern New Mexico, west Texas, and the Texas panhandle. There was some evidence that the blowing dust/sand extended across the the Oklahoma panhandle into west Kansas, lifted over a stratus cloud shield covering the region. LP THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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