DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 18, 2018
SMOKE: Central Plains.... Widespread agricultural fires were observed across northern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, central-southern Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. Pockets of light-density smoke were seen over eastern Kansas and northern Missouri. Individual plumes were being transported towards the west. Southwestern... Four large fast moving wildfires were seen in southeast Colorado fanned by strong westerly winds leading to well-developed/elongated plumes including heavy density smoke near the source and extending for several miles and into neighboring Kansas state. A large wildfire burned across north Cibola county in northwest New Mexico, along with two other wildfires in southern Apache and Coconino counties in Arizona producing long light-to-moderate density plumes extending over northern Texas and western Oklahoma. Southeast... Seasonal fires were observed across Florida, southern Alabama and Georgia, and eastern South Carolina. The majority of the smoke was being transported towards the east with the exception of central/southern Florida where smoke was dispersed towards the south. Central America... Two large pockets of light-density smoke were observed spreading across central-southern Mexico and Guatemala resulting from numerous seasonal fires in the region. DUST: A large area of blowing dust was observed originating from San Luis Valley in Colorado passing through the city of Pueblo/CO and traveling east-northeast across the Kansas state border. Additional areas of blowing dust were seen across New Mexico off White Sands missile range and Laguna del Perro. 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