DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z April 22, 2014
SMOKE No significant areas of remnant smoke were noted in satellite imagery this afternoon and evening. Numerous fires over eastern Kansas this evening were producing a consolidating area of light smoke that was mainly drifting south into northern Oklahoma. Numerous fires were also detected over Montana with a few notable smoke plumes that were moderately dense to locally dense. An isolated fire in western Presidio county Texas along the Rio Grande was producing a moderately dense to dense smoke plume that was drifting to the south. A fire in western La Paz county in Arizona near the California border was generating a mainly light smoke plume drifting to the north. DUST and SULFATE An area of elevated thin aerosol was seen from southeast Wisconsin extending to the southwest across eastern Iowa, northern Missouri, southeast Kansas and into northeast and central Oklahoma. This area was on the trailing edge of layered clouds associated with a frontal system which hindered detecting the eastern extent of the aerosol. Aerosol transport models suggest that this is mainly dust from Asia with possibly some sulfate mixed in. A more diffuse area of elevated light aerosol was also noted spilling over an upper level ridge into the northern Plains of the US and southern Saskatchewan. This was likely a mix of dust and sulfate that has traversed the Pacific from east Asia. Ruminski 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