Friday, October 20, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z October 21, 2017

SMOKE:
South Eastern US...
Fires from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Florida Panhandle to
Virginia were seen emitting mainly light smoke plumes. These smoke plumes
were moving counter-clockwise around a high pressure center located
over the southern Appalachians. Of note is the cloud mass over western
Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and eastern Texas today. This
cloud cover is almost surely obstructing the view of agricultural fires
and smoke plumes in these areas, mostly Louisiana and Arkansas.

Northern Great Plains...
A dozen or so of the agricultural burns across much of southeastern
Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, northern North Dakota and northwestern
Minnesota were seen producing mainly light density smoke. Much of this
smoke was being lifted northward, with the exception of the most northern
smoke plumes, which were seen moving toward the west. Cloud cover obscured
some of the region at times today as well, impacting the smoke analysis.

The Olympic Peninsula/Victoria Island...
Smoke was likely seen being emitted from fires across Washington State's
Olympic Peninsula and Victoria Island. This smoke was being blown off
toward the east on fairly fast westerly winds. More smoke is likely
present throughout interior British Columbia and the coastal Pacific
Northwest. However, the presence of cloud cover hampers the analysis of
smoke in this area


DUST:
Imperial Valley...
An impressive dust storm was observed moving eastward across the Imperial
Valley in south-central California. This blowing dust made its way into
southwestern Arizona as well.

Mojave Desert...
More blowing dust was observed in some of the valleys of the Mojave Desert
in southern California. This dust was seen moving northeast towards the
Nevada state line.

Caribbean Sean/Atlantic Ocean...
Saharan dust was observed across much of the Tropical North Atlantic,
Caribbean Sea, the southern Bahamas, and central North Atlantic. Much of
this dust appeared to be dragged northeast by a front draped over the
central Atlantic Ocean, while the rest was moving toward the western
Caribbean Sea.


-Hosley



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.