DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2000Z April 14, 2018
SMOKE: Central US... Large wildfires continue to burn in Dewey and Jackson counties in Oklahoma spreading moderate-density smoke towards the southeast Oklahoma. A large area of lighter-density smoke entered the lower pressure circulation centered in the state of Kansas and is currently covering the western half of Arkansas and moving further away towards the northeast. Florida... Several agricultural fires were observed south of Lake Okeechobee generating mostly light-density smoke being transported towards the north-northwest and over the lake. Gulf of Mexico... A large plume consisting of light density smoke was observed covering the majority of the central and western Gulf waters - cloud coverage prevents smoke visualization off the Texas and Louisiana coastlines. The smoke is originating from seasonal fires across central-south Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula. A secondary smoke plume was observed covering most of Belize and surrounding areas originating from additional seasonal fires in Honduras. WS 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