DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 12, 2015
SMOKE Central US/Northern Plains: Several agricultural and prescribed burns were seen in satellite imagery throughout the Central US and Northern Plains this afternoon/evening. Clouds drifting in from the southwest in Kansas and Oklahoma obscured the origin of smoke in Oklahoma and Kansas, however light to moderate density smoke was moving to the northeast ahead of fires observed in GOES-13 infrared imagery. This area of smoke spanning from Kansas to northern Minnesota was a combination of the light to moderate density remnant smoke from yesterday's agricultural burns in Kansas and Oklahoma and moderate density smoke from today's fires in the Central US and Northern Plains. Gulf of Mexico: A large area of light density smoke was observed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and was moving to the northwest towards the coastline of Mexico. The smoke originated from agricultural/prescribed burns in Central American and oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche. DUST Southwest US: An area of light dust, lightly long range transport from Asia, was noted over far southern California and southern Nevada and was drifting to the southeast. -Cronin/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