DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z March 15, 2016

SMOKE:
Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche:
An area of thin density smoke was observed over the western Gulf of
Mexico and the Bay of Campeche. The source of this smoke is seasonal
fire activity over portions of Mexico and Central America along with
smoke from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche.

Central US:
A rather concentrated area of fires was analyzed over the eastern third
of Kansas which were attributed to mainly seasonal burning. A number of
thin density smoke plumes were observed with some of these fires though
cloudiness in the region did interfere with additional smoke information
in satellite imagery. In addition, some of the plumes merged together
into a somewhat larger batch of smoke which moved to the north over
eastern Kansas.

BLOWING DUST:
New Mexico: A patch of thin to moderately dense blowing dust was visible
after 22Z emanating from White Sands in south central New Mexico and
moving off to the northeast.

Nevada/Western Utah: Streaks of mainly thin density blowing dust were
visible originating from point sources in west central and southwestern
and south central Nevada after 20Z and continuing through sunset. The dust
over west central Nevada spread to the east and reached into western and
central Utah while the dust over southwestern and south central Nevada
moved to the southeast and over southern Nevada.

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.