Monday, February 3, 2020

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z February 4, 2020

SMOKE:
Southeastern U.S…
A large amount of what is believed to be mainly seasonal type fire
activity was detected in the Southeastern U.S. along with a very
significant amount of visible smoke. The smoke was seen primarily with
the fires in southern Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina,
and northern and central Florida. The majority of the smoke was of thin
density though some locally moderately dense to thick smoke was present
closer to the source of a few of the fires. Movement of much of the
smoke was generally to the north and northeast.

Central California…
Numerous seasonal/agricultural type fires were detected in the Sacramento
and San Joaquin Valley regions with thin density smoke noted mainly in
the San Joaquin Valley. This smoke originated from a number of the fires
in the valley and quickly spread to the south with some of the various
plumes merging to form larger areas of smoke.

Cuba…
Widespread burning occurring in Cuba resulted in extensive coverage
of mainly thin density smoke across the island with some of the smoke
extending offshore.

DUST:
California/Nevada…
Areas of mainly thin density dust were visible emanating from multiple
sources in west central and southern Nevada as well as southeastern
California. Locally thicker dust was seen moving to the south from a
source in west central Nye County near the Esmeralda County border. The
dust over Nevada and interior southeastern California spread generally
to the south.

Arizona/New Mexico…
A swath of varying density blowing dust originated from the Wilcox Playa
in southeastern Arizona and moved to the east-northeast reaching into
west central New Mexico by later in the day.

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

 


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.