DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z March 31, 2017
SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico...A large mass of thin to moderately dense smoke attributed to seasonal burning occurring over southeastern Mexico and Central America was visible this afternoon and evening spreading to the north and northeast across the Bay of Campeche and the western and central Gulf of Mexico. The smoke likely reached near or across the central Gulf coast around southeastern Louisiana but cloudiness in this area interfered with detecting the extent of the smoke. Farther to the southeast, a region of thin density leftover smoke from seasonal burning in Cuba could be seen moving to the northwest over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Some of the very thin smoke appeared to cross over the Florida Keys and the extreme southern tip of the Florida peninsula. DUST: Southwestern US...Visible satellite imagery through early evening showed a significant blowing dust event underway over a broad portion of the Southwestern US. Swaths of moderately dense to thick dust were visible emanating from many sources in southeastern California, southern Nevada, and western and northern Arizona though cloudiness did interfere with the extent of the dust in satellite imagery. Thinner streaks of dust were also beginning to form in south central Arizona and move quickly off to the northeast. The thickest area of dust spread eastward from southeastern California over southern Nevada then northeastward over northwestern Arizona and likely into southern Utah. Farther to the west, the low sun angle revealed aerosol over the interior of central and western California and offshore over the nearby eastern Pacific though it is not known how much of this aerosol is composed of dust. Farther to the east and southeast, a stripe of rather dense blowing dust originated from a source in northern Cochise County of southeastern Arizona and moved quickly to the northeast into southwestern New Mexico. Satellite imagery just before sunset also indicated the beginning of some blowing dust coming off of White Sands in south central New Mexico and from a few sources in the far northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico just south of the New Mexico border. These swaths of dust were also moving off to the northeast. 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