DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z May 27, 2017
SMOKE: Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas/Southern Louisiana... A large number of fires burning in western Mexico as well as southeastern Mexico including the Yucatan Peninsula were responsible for a large area of thin to moderately dense smoke which covered much of Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, the western Gulf of Mexico, and portions of southern Texas and southern Louisiana. DUST: Western Atlantic/Caribbean/Cuba/Bahamas/Gulf of Mexico... A significant area of Saharan dust has nearly pushed west of Puerto Rico but is still present farther to the north and west across the Bahamas, Cuba, and at least as far west as the Gulf of Mexico. It is not certain if some of the dust has been transported inland over Texas and Louisiana since it has likely become mixed with smoke from the ongoing seasonal burning occurring in Mexico. Southeastern Arizona/Southern New Mexico... A swath of moderately dense to locally thick blowing dust was visible emanating from the Wilcox playa in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona and spreading quickly off to the northeast reaching into south central New Mexico just north of White Sands. Northern Mexico/Southern New Mexico/Western Texas... More blowing dust of somewhat thinner density originated from a number of point sources in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua in north central Mexico and moved off to the northeast reaching into southern and southeastern New Mexico and western Texas including El Paso. 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