Sunday, April 29, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 30, 2018

SMOKE:
Arizona/Utah/New Mexico/Arizona...
A wildfire increased significantly in size during the day over south
central Coconino County of central Arizona resulting in a large dense
smoke plume which spread rapidly to the northeast across the 4-corners
region into southwestern Colorado. Wildfires with moderately dense to
locally thick smoke spreading to the northeast were also noted over east
central Arizona and over southwestern New Mexico. In south central Utah,
a fire flared up with a moderately dense to thick smoke plume briefly
seen in between breaks in the clouds.

Central US...
Numerous seasonal fires were detected across a broad portion of the
Central US from Minnesota and the Great Lakes region southward to the
Southern Plains. Many individual smoke plumes of mainly thin density
were visible with some of these fires with a few of them combining to
form larger patches of smoke.

Mexico/Central America...
Seasonal fires resulted in a very large mass of thin to moderately dense
smoke which covered portions of Mexico, Central America, and the Bay
of Campeche.

DUST:
Eastern North Dakota/Western Minnesota...
Some type of aerosol was visible moving rapidly to the north and across
the border into south central Canada from numerous source regions of
eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. It is possible that strong
gusty southerly winds have kicked up some loose soils there.

Southwestern US...
Many individual sources of blowing dust of thin to moderate density
were noted over the interior portion of southern California from
the Baja border northward over the Salton Sea to near the border with
southern Nevada. This dust was generally moving to the east. Additional
thin density blowing dust was visible from sources in southern Arizona
including the Wilcox Playa (southeastern Arizona) and southern New Mexico
including White Sands. This dust was moving mainly to the northeast.

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

 


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.