DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 27, 2016
SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Northwestern Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Southeastern Texas/Southwestern Louisiana: An expansive area of thin to moderately dense smoke from the ongoing seasonal burning occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America was visible covering the Bay of Campeche, and much of the western and northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The smoke had spread farther to the north as well and inland over southern and southeastern Texas reaching as far northwest as central Texas just prior to sunset. Cloudiness farther to the north over northern Texas and Oklahoma limited additional information on the extent of the smoke from satellite imagery. DUST: Western to North Central Texas/Southern and Eastern New Mexico/Northern Mexico: A swath of moderately dense to even locally thick blowing dust emanating primarily from source regions in northern Mexico, just south of the New Mexico border, spread to the east and northeast covering west Texas. Additional thinner density streaks of blowing dust were visible originating from sources in southern New Mexico and in western Texas between Midland and Lubbock. These areas of blowing dust also moved to the east and northeast reaching north central Texas before sunset. Cloudiness farther to the north and northeast over the Southern and Central Plains limited additional information concerning the extent of the blowing dust from satellite imagery. 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