Tuesday, May 06, 2014

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z May 06, 2014

Dust/Sand:
Southern High Plains:
Very strong (15-20kt) SSW winds are kicking up loose soils/dust/sand
west of the dry line from West Central KS/OK panhandle and western
column of counties of OK and Cap Rock of TX panhandle (as far south as
Gaines county).   The dust/soil source regions are bound to the west by
the CO/NM line with KS/OK/TX and just east of the dry line as the air
has become a bit elevated at that boundary.

Chihuahuan Desert/White Sands:
A large portion of the Chihuahuan desert of N Coahuila, SW of El
Paso/Juarez is being picked up under strong 25-30kt SSW winds covering a
large portion of S NM, nearing the N-S TX boarder near Hobbs as well as
the western panhandle of TX. This plume of sand is moderately dense in
appearance nearing dense across the center portion of the source across
El Paso/Juarez itself.
Further north sands from the White Sands destert is also moving NE under
similar conditions but is less dense in appearance and extends nearly
225km nearing Clovis, NM on average in a 60km wide swath.

Southern California:
Moderately dense sand storm can be seen across the Anza-Borrego Desert of
S California as well as the desert east of the Salton Sea Greenway as well
as deserts S of Mexicali in far N Baja California.   This dust sand is
moving E, NE and SE under the 20-25kt winds due to the surface inflection
of the base of the strong trof/upper low digging south across NV.

Asian Aerosols:
Alaska:
A swath of moderately dense aerosols, likely dominated by dust/sand from
N China/Mongolia can be seen moving SE across Bristol Bay, the western
tip of the Alaskan Peninsula and Eastern Aluetian Islands into the Gulf
of Alaska.  Likely these aerosols are also present across the SW-NE jet
streak across W AK but cloud cover is too dense to differentiate attm.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.