DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z April 11, 2021
SMOKE:
Central U.S…
Numerous seasonal fires in the Central U.S. were responsible for many
individual smoke plumes of thin to moderate density which moved generally
to the east and southeast with a number of them merging to form larger
patches of smoke especially over Nebraska, Kansas, and northeastern
Oklahoma.
South Central U.S./Mexico/Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of
Campeche/Pacific south of Mexico…
The ongoing significant amount of seasonal fires occurring in Mexico and
Central America were responsible for a huge area of thin to moderate
density smoke covering portions of southern and eastern Mexico and
Central America and extending to the north over the Bay of Campeche,
the western Gulf of Mexico, and south of Mexico over the Pacific. A
few embedded patches of thick density smoke were visible closer to some
of the more intense fires in Mexico. Thinner density smoke appeared to
extend at least as far to the north as southern Texas, southern Louisiana,
southern Mississippi, and southern Alabama. It is possible that the smoke
may extend even farther to the north over the South Central U.S. though
it is not known if the very thin density aerosol seen there was smoke
or from some other source.
DUST:
Western and Northwestern U.S…
A fairly significant blowing dust event was underway with dust seen
emanating from many sources across a broad region. Rather thick streaks
of blowing dust were visible spreading quickly to the east and southeast
from sources in the southern and southeastern part of Oregon, southwestern
Idaho, and northwestern Utah. Slightly farther to the north, additional
plumes of dust over east central Oregon and west central Idaho were seen
moving due south. Farther to the east, thick swaths of blowing dust from
sources in southeastern Idaho moved to the northeast into southwestern
Montana and northwestern Wyoming. The result of all of this was dust
of some density basically covered much of the southeastern quarter of
Oregon, the southern half of Idaho, and northern Utah. Thinner density
dust was just beginning to be seen moving to the east from sources in
northeastern California and northwestern and west central Nevada which
will likely become thicker as the stronger winds move into this region.
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