Monday, February 22, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z February 23, 2016

SMOKE:
Western Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas:
A combination of thin density smoke from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche
and seasonal fires burning in Mexico spread northward over the western
Gulf of Mexico reaching into far southern Texas by late in the day.

Central US:
Numerous fires along with more than 2 dozen visible smoke plumes
of primarily thin density were seen over central and eastern Kansas,
western Missouri, and especially central to eastern Oklahoma and northern
Arkansas.

BLOWING DUST:
South Central and Southeastern Arizona/Southwestern New Mexico/Western
Texas/Northern Mexico:
Mainly thin density blowing dust was visible moving to the southeast
from numerous source regions across a broad region extending from south
central Arizona over southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico,
western Texas, and the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua. The most
significant portion of the dust which was emanating from source points
across northern Chihuahua in northern Mexico and over western Texas
just south of El Paso resulted in a rather significant patch of thin to
locally moderately dense dust. The dust event started to become visible
in satellite imagery just after 18Z and continued until sunset.

Southeastern California/Southwestern Arizona:
More thin density blowing dust was seen originating from sources in
the desert regions of interior southeastern California and spreading
southward over southeastern California and southwestern Arizona.

JS


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.