DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1715Z March 14, 2014
Mid-Atlantic: An optically thin aerosol is seen moving off the coasts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Long Island, New York. Aerosol models suggest this could be either remnant smoke from fires in the Central US over the past 1-2 days, elevated dust particles, or perhaps a mix of aerosols. Gulf of Mexico: Several areas of thin smoke were present over the eastern Gulf of Mexico this morning. Most of this smoke is the result of a large amount of agricultural burning in the Southeast US yesterday and easterly flow off the Atlantic has pushed the smoke westward across Florida to the Gulf. Another area of aerosol is seen over the western Gulf stretching from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico north/northwest to the Texas/southwest Louisiana coasts although the composition of this aerosol is unknown. Illinois/Iowa/Wisconsin/Missouri/Kansas/Nebraska: A small area of thin remnant smoke could be seen beneath patch cloudiness drifting northeast across northeast Missouri/Central Illinois this morning. This smoke is likely from fires in the Central US yesterday. Behind the area of smoke and behind the cold front over the Central US, an area of elevated dust particles could be seen stretching from southern Wisconsin southwest across north Illinois, Iowa, north Missouri, southeast/south Nebraska, and northern Kansas. Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas: An area of thin smoke was present over north/northeast Texas, south central to east Oklahoma, and western Arkansas from numerous fires that were burning in the region yesterday. Also over the far northern Texas Panhandle, several plumes of blowing dust/sand could be seen behind the cold front since about 1330z this morning. Pacific Northwest: An area of aerosol believed mostly to be elevated dust from Asia could be seen approaching Washington, Oregon, and far northwest California behind a cold front. 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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