DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z April 1, 2017
SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Southern Gulf of Mexico...A large area of mainly thin density smoke believed to be primarily from seasonal burning over portions of Mexico and Central America was visible over the far western Caribbean, the Bay of Campeche, and the southern Gulf of Mexico. South Central US...Scattered fire activity over eastern Texas, western Louisiana, southern and central Arkansas, and Oklahoma were producing areas of thin density smoke with locally moderate to thick smoke seen from a couple of the fires over eastern Texas and at least one of the fires over eastern Oklahoma. Farther to the north, cloudiness over Kansas and Missouri significantly inhibited fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. Southwestern Texas/Northern Mexico...Several fires over northern Mexico were emitting thin to moderately dense smoke which spread quickly to the northeast with the leading portion of the smoke crossing the border into southwestern Texas between El Paso and the Big Bend region. DUST: Southwestern and South Central US/Northern Mexico...A significant swath of moderately dense to thick blowing dust was visible stretching from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua over far western Texas (including El Paso), south central, southeastern, and eastern New Mexico, and west central Texas. This dust originated from multiple sources in northern Mexico (northern Chihuahua), southern New Mexico (including White Sands), southwestern and west central Texas. In addition, a stripe of moderately dense blowing dust originated from a source in northern Cochise County of southeastern Arizona and spread to the northeast into southwestern New Mexico. California and nearby eastern Pacific...An aerosol was visible over portions of central and western California and offshore over the nearby eastern Pacific though it is not certain how much of this aerosol was composed of blowing dust. 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