DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1900Z April 25, 2013
Gulf of Mexico/Florida/Southeast US Coast: A large area of thin to moderately dense smoke was seen over the western Gulf of Mexico this morning extending northward into an area of clouds. Thin smoke was also seen over the central portion of the Gulf stretching east to the Florida Keys and southwestern Florida. Most of this smoke is likely from Mexico, Central America, and Cuba. In addition, other aerosol could be seen from the far northeastern Gulf across northern Florida reaching northeast along/ahead of the frontal boundary off the East Coast. This may be a mix of smoke from Southeast US/Mexico fires and other unknown aerosol. Northwest to Central US: Areas of elevated dust particles could be seen from the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, east Washington, southern Oregon, northern Nevada) stretching southeast across the Central US to Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. Much of this dust is thought to have come from Asia. Some thin smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest may have been mixing in with the aerosol further northwest. Sheffler 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