DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z April 3, 2014
Eastern Gulf of Mexico: Leftover thin density smoke from yesterday's fires over Florida continued to be visible off the west coast of Florida. The smoke was moving to the north and northwest. Western Gulf of Mexico: Mainly thin density smoke from the seasonal fires in Mexico and Central America moved to the north over the Bay of Campeche and western Gulf of Mexico reaching close to the coast of southern Texas later in the day. Cloudiness over the western Gulf of Mexico inhibited some additional information on the northward extent of the smoke. Southeastern US: Numerous fires over the Southeastern US were detected during the day along with quite a few smoke plumes. Some cloudiness interfered with additional detection of smoke in the region. Blowing Dust... Southern California/Southwestern Arizona: A swath of thin density blowing dust originated from sources in southern California near and to the south of the Salton Sea after 18Z and moved to the east into southwestern Arizona by late in the day. Northern Mexico/New Mexico/Western and Northwestern Texas/Western Oklahoma: Many sources of blowing dust over northern Mexico, southwestern and southern New Mexico, western Texas, and northwestern Texas became visible after 18Z and continued until sunset. The area of thin density blowing dust (moderate density closer to the source points) congealed into a larger swath and moved northeastward covering the area from southern New Mexico and western Texas to western Oklahoma. Eastern Colorado/Western Kansas/Southwestern Nebraska: Blowing dust of thin density originated from sources over east central and southeastern Colorado and moved to the northeast reaching western Kansas and southwestern Nebraska by late in the day. JS Earlier This Morning... Southeast US: An area of unknown aerosols are visible in satellite imagery off the coast of North and South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean this morning. With the current fire activity in the Southeast, it is possible that the plume is mixed with remnant smoke from Georgia and South Carolina agricultural burns. The plume is first visible at 1215Z and continues to drift SE offshore. Gulf of Mexico: A plume of light-density remnant smoke is visible in the Gulf of Mexico offshore the western Florida coastline this morning. The plume is first visible at 1115Z and continues to move north towards the Tampa Bay area. It is likely that this remnant smoke originates from agricultural burns taking place near Lake Okeechobee. Oegerle 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