DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z March 27, 2017
SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Gulf Coast Region... A large mass of aerosol which is likely mainly composed of primarily thin density smoke attributed to seasonal burning in southeastern Mexico and Central America was visible covering the Bay of Campeche and a good portion of the central and western Gulf of Mexico. The smoke also appeared to extend inland over southern and southeastern Texas, the southern half of Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama, and the western Florida panhandle. Areas of moderate density smoke were seen spreading to the west and northwest from the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche. A bit farther to the east, patches of leftover thin density smoke believed to be from seasonal fires in Cuba were noted spreading to the west and northwest off the west coast of Cuba over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. DUST: Western Texas... An area of thin density blowing dust originated from sources in western Texas between Lubbock and Midland and moved to the east during the late afternoon and early evening. Southeastern California... A small patch of thin density blowing dust was visible over southeastern California east of the Salton Sea. The dust moved to the east nearing the southwestern Arizona border 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