DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z March 16, 2016
SMOKE: Southeastern US: Quiet a few fires were analyzed across the region stretching from eastern and southeastern Mississippi eastward to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Many smoke plumes of primarily thin density were visible in satellite imagery emanating from these fires with some of the plumes being blowing well to the east of the fire locations. This was especially evident with the fires closer to the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida with the smoke spreading well offshore over the Atlantic. Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche: The area of mainly thin density smoke attributed to a combination of seasonal fires in Mexico and Central America and oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche continued to be visible over the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico. BLOWING DUST: Southeastern Colorado: A very thin streak of blowing dust was seen moving to the southeast from a point source in west central Las Animas County of south central Colorado. The dust event began around 18Z and continued for several hours with dust reaching into northeastern New Mexico. Western and Southwestern Texas: A patch of thin density blowing dust originated from a source area north of Midland in western Texas around 18Z and spread to the southeast into southwestern Texas during the afternoon and early evening. JS Earlier This Morning... SMOKE: Central US: A plume of thin remnant smoke could be seen stretching from eastern Texas northeastward to southern Missouri and far southern Illinois. Much of this smoke is believed to have come north from Mexico and the Bay of Campeche though numerous agricultural burns in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas yesterday likely contributed additional smoke. Southeast US: An area of thin smoke is progressing steadily east off the Southeast US coast. This smoke is probably from fires over the past two days in the Southeast US states. Additional aerosol closer to the North Carolina/South Carolina coast may be elevated dust that had progressed offshore. Florida Straits: A small patch of remnant smoke can be seen just north of western Cuba moving westward across the Straits of Florida. This smoke is either from fires yesterday in the Bahamas or from fires in Cuba. BLOWING DUST: Central Texas to East Kansas/North Missouri/East Iowa/Central Illinois: Blowing dust can be seen this morning moving the east and southeast across central and northern Texas where strong winds are blowing ahead of a frontal boundary. Stretching northeastward along/behind the boundary is elevated dust across Oklahoma, east Kansas, north Missouri as well as focused along a warm front over east Iowa/central Illinois. Sheffler 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