DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1445Z May 05, 2014
Southern Plains: A narrow strip of moderately dense smoke can be seen in the mid-troposphere moving due south along the Red River while moving E and NE across the N Ozarks of NW AR and SW MO. The smoke is about 5-10km wide along the length with bulbous end to the south (likely the initial burst). It is likely this smoke originated from the large prairie fire in NE Woodward county, OK A second smaller and lower level smoke area can be seen moving NE out of far NW TX through SW AR. This smoke likely originated from a fire in Coryell county, TX. Asian Aerosols: Upper Mississippi River Valley through Eastern Midwest and Coastal Carolinas: A large swath of very thin aerosols...likely sulfates/pollutants and dust/sand from N China/Mongolia can be seen along the top and SE moving portion of the jet across SD, S MN, IA, IL, IN eventually along NC coast and out into the Atlantic south of Bermuda. All generally moving E then SE along this jet feature. It is very clear this aerosol is at very high altitudes. Alaska/NW Canada: With a large cyclone digging into far NW Alberta...and large ridge amplifying over E AK and W Yukon Territory... moderately dense wide plume of Asian aerosols cover a large portion of S central AK/AK Peninsula moving NE into far NE AK and N Yukon and across the the S Arctic Ocean. This section is quite wide about 400km wide. On the other side of the ridge, the lines are more consolidated but thinner in appearance likely maximized on confluent bands wrapping NE to NW to SE around the developing cyclone covering portions of the western NW Terrtiories. Pacific NW/SW Canada: Thin to moderately dense band of Asian aerosols delineate the main jet stream across S BC moving from E to W over the N tip of Vancouver Island then wrapping around the periphery of large scale trof or cyclonic lobe of the upper level before it loops back from the SW into OR,leaving a clear(ish) pocket over Pacific SW of Vancouver Island and W of Washington. This likely then contniues further east to match up with the area described above (Upper Miss. R. Valley). Gallina 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