DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z March 29, 2016
SMOKE: Central US: A large concentration of fires was analyzed across the region stretching from Oklahoma and Arkansas northward to Iowa with a particular emphasis on the area encompassing northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern and eastern Kansas. Numerous smoke plumes of mainly thin density were visible in satellite imagery with quite a few of these fires. The significant concentration of fires over northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas were responsible for plumes which congealed into a patch of thin to moderate density smoke which moved to the north covering much of eastern Kansas and into southeastern Nebraska. DUST: Southern California/Southern Nevada/Western Arizona: Gusty winds and reports of blowing dust were noted from a few locations in the southern third of California, southern Nevada, and western Arizona though rather widespread cloudiness greatly interfered with dust detection in satellite imagery. A possible patch of thin density blowing dust was seen in between breaks in the clouds moving to the south across southwestern Nevada and over the border into southeastern California. Northern Mexico/Southern New Mexico/Western Texas: Cloudiness also interfered with dust detection in this region as well though a possible swath of thin density dust was visible moving to the northeast from northern Mexico into southern New Mexico and far western Texas just before sunset. JS Earlier This Morning... SMOKE: Nebraska/Iowa Border: A small patch of smoke could be seen moving eastward across southeast Nebraska towards the Iowa border. This smoke appears to have come from fires in central and eastern Nebraska yesterday. Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche: With much of the Gulf of Mexico covered by broken cloud cover, some smoke could be seen across the central and western Gulf of Mexico along with within the Bay of Campeche. This remnant thin smoke is mostly from fires in Mexico and other nearby countries of Central America. DUST: Central and Northern Plains/Midwest/Great Lakes: An area of an elevated aerosol was observed over the Central and Northern Plains. It is difficult to determine its full extent due to the diffuse nature of the aerosol and clouds obscuring parts of the Midwest and exiting the Intermountain West though. The aerosol is thought to be elevated dust particles, possibly originating from Asia based on back trajectories of aerosol models. It stretches approximately from north Arkansas/north Oklahoma northward to the Dakotas/western and central Minnesota, and across Lake Superior over southern Ontario. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Texas/Oklahoma: An aerosol is observed over parts of Oklahoma southward and southeastward across Texas. This aerosol could be elevated dust or remnant smoke or a mix of the two. This aerosol extended into the far northwest Gulf of Mexico where some of the aerosol was analyzed as remnant smoke yesterday. 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