DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z February 18, 2017
SMOKE: Central/South Central/Southeastern US... An area of significant cloudiness moved northward during the day covering portions of eastern Texas,eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. As a result, the most significant fire and smoke activity was seen around the periphery of this area of cloudiness. Gulf of Mexico... A large patch of mainly thin to locally moderate density aerosol was visible stretching from portions of eastern and southeastern Mexico northward and northeastward over the Bay of Campeche and the south central Gulf of Mexico. This aerosol was likely composed at least in part by smoke attributed to fire activity over eastern and southeastern Mexico, and portions of Central America, and to oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche. DUST: Western Texas... Gusty westerly winds kicked up some mainly thin density blowing dust from sources in and around Midland Texas during the afternoon with the dust spreading eastward reaching close to Brownwood in central Texas by sunset. 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