DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z March 26 2017
SMOKE: Oklahoma... Several primarily thin density smoke plumes were visible during the day spreading quickly to the east across northern, western, and especially south central Oklahoma. Significant cloudiness over eastern Oklahoma, the eastern half of Kansas, and spots farther to the east greatly limited fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. Southwestern Texas... A couple of fire complexes in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua were producing thin to moderately dense smoke which moved off to the northeast with the leading edge of the thinner smoke reaching into southwestern Texas by late in the day. Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Western and Central Gulf Coast... A large mass of thin to moderately dense smoke attributed to seasonal fires burning over portions of southeastern Mexico and Central America was seen spreading to the north and northeast over the Bay of Campeche and the western and central Gulf of Mexico possibly affecting the coastal regions from southern Louisiana to the Florida panhandle though cloudiness in the far northern Gulf of Mexico interfered with smoke detection in satellite imagery. DUST: Southeastern Texas/Southern Louisiana/Western Gulf of Mexico... An aerosol was visible covering the far western Gulf of Mexico, southern and southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. It is possible that this aerosol is composed in part from leftover blowing dust from the past couple of days which had originated over northern Mexico, southern New Mexico, and western Texas. It is also possible that this aerosol was partly composed of smoke from the seasonal burning occurring over portions of Mexico and Central America. Arizona... A stripe of moderately dense blowing dust originated from a source region in northern Cochise County of southeastern Arizona and moved eastward reaching southwestern New Mexico just prior to 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