DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 24, 2015
SMOKE Central Canada/ Midwest/Mid-Atlantic: An elevated optically thin aerosol comprised primarily of smoke was seen moving west across northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, the northern half of Manitoba, and moving to the east-southeast in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, southern West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. As the smoke approached the Mid-Atlantic states it became more diffuse. The major source of the aerosol was from agricultural fires and wildfires in Siberia last week but given its residence time in the atmosphere the smoke is likely well mixed with other aerosols. Gulf of Mexico/Texas coastline: A large area of light density smoke and remnant smoke was detected in the southwestern and western Gulf of Mexico moving to the northwest towards the Texas coastline. The smoke originated from today and yesterday's oil exploration in the Gulf of Campeche and agricultural/prescribed burns in Central American. -Cronin 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