DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z December 4, 2019
SMOKE:
Northwestern Gulf of Mexico/Eastern Texas and Louisiana...
Fires continued to burn on Matagorda Island of southeastern Texas though
a change in the wind direction during the afternoon pushed the smoke
more to the northeast with some of the thinner density smoke reaching
the Houston metro area. Moderately dense to locally thick smoke with
these fires was generally confined to Matagorda Island and just inland
over southeastern Texas though large coverage of thin density smoke was
noted over southeastern Texas and offshore over the northwestern Gulf
of Mexico. Another fire just inland from the coastline in the region
of Grand Chenier continued to burn during the day with a change in wind
direction noted there as well which resulted in the smoke spreading inland
to the north. Residual smoke from this fire was still seen offshore
of southwestern Louisiana. Additional seasonal type fire activity was
detected over portions of eastern Texas and Louisiana with numerous
thin to locally moderate density smoke plumes visible with the smoke
primarily moving off to the northeast. The greatest coverage of smoke
was across southern Louisiana where many smoke plumes merged to form
larger patches of mainly thin density smoke.
Southeastern U.S...
Numerous seasonal fires were detected scattered across the
Southeastern U.S. with many thin to locally moderate density smoke
plumes visible especially over southern Alabama, southwestern Georgia,
and Florida. Most of the smoke moved in an easterly direction during
the afternoon. Cloudiness was more prevalent farther to the north in
Alabama and Georgia which likely limited the detection of additional
smoke plumes from satellite imagery.
Northwestern U.S...
Scattered seasonal type fire activity was noted over northern California,
central and western Oregon, and southwestern Washington with some
mainly thin density smoke seen with a few of the fires. Cloudiness over
western and northwestern Oregon and Washington did limit additional
smoke detection.
Bahamas...
Fires were noted on the Northern portion of Great Abaco Island, the
Western portion of Grand Bahama Island, and the Northern portion of
Andros Island of the Bahamas. Varying density smoke was observed from
these fires spreading to the east and southeast during the afternoon.
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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg
GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/
KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire)
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke)
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO:
SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov