Thursday, March 30, 2017

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

 


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.