DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1615Z March 27, 2016
SMOKE: Arkansas/Missouri to Lake Michigan Two patches of thin remnant smoke are seen along and just ahead of the frontal boundary that is over the Central US. One is over northern Arkansas/southern Missouri and the other is over central Illinois/far northwest Indiana/southern Lake Michigan. Clouds separated the two patches of smoke which is likely from agricultural and prescribed burns observed yesterday in Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Missouri and southern Illinois. The smoke appears to be traveling northeastward and may be mixed with elevated dust that may extend as far south as east Texas/northwest Louisiana. Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche: With much of the Gulf of Mexico covered by sparsely broken cloud cover, the only smoke that could be seen across the region was within the Bay of Campeche stretching to the south central Gulf. This remnant thin smoke is mostly from fires in Mexico and other nearby countries of Central America. DUST: Central and Northern Plains: An area of aerosol stretches from western Kansas/far northeast Colorado/southwest Nebraska northward through the Northern Plains states culminating in the vicinity of cloud cover over northeast North Dakota/southeast Manitoba. This cloud cover may obscure some of the aerosol from being seen. The aerosol is thought to be elevated dust particles, possibly originating from Asia based on back trajectories of aerosol models. 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