Sunday, March 27, 2016

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

 


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.