Friday, December 16, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z December 17, 2016

SMOKE:
Southern Florida...
A number of thin density smoke plumes were visible over the southern
half of Florida during the day with some of the plumes merging to form
slightly larger patches of smoke.

Western Oklahoma/Northwestern Texas...
Very long narrow smoke plumes of thin to locally moderate density
were seen during the afternoon and just prior to sunset emanating from
several rapidly spreading grassland fires over far western Oklahoma and
northwestern Texas.

DUST:
Southwestern US...
A broad area strong gusty winds affecting portions of the Southwestern
US from southern California eastward to the Central and Southern
Plains were responsible for quite a bit of blowing dust. A swath of
moderately dense to locally thick blowing dust from a dry lake bed
in Esmeralda County of west central Nevada was seen fanning out to
the east and southeast. Several source regions contributed to sizable
area of thin density blowing dust affecting portions of southeastern
California, northwestern Baja, as well as southwestern and south central
Arizona. Significant streaks of moderately dense to thick dust were
visible spreading to the east and northeast from sources in northern
Mexico just south of the New Mexico border This dust affected western
Texas including the El Paso region and south central to southeastern
New Mexico. More thin density blowing dust moved eastward from White
Sands in south central New Mexico reaching east central New Mexico and
west central Texas just prior to sunset. Farther north, many streaks
of thin density blowing dust were seen originating from sources in west
central and northwestern Texas with this dust spreading east and reaching
southwestern Oklahoma and north central Texas by sunset. Finally, an area
of thin density blowing dust originated from a source in south central
Colorado and spread east over southeastern Colorado toward western Kansas.

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

 


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.