DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z December 16, 2021
SMOKE: Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas... A large wildfire was observed Wednesday afternoon rapidly spreading eastward over northwestern Kansas with a large light to moderate density plume moving to the east. Several other smaller wildfires with long, narrow, light density plumes spreading off to the east-northeast were found over western Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the northern Texas Panhandle. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Mexico... Atmospheric pollution likely associated with recent scattered seasonal burning, gas flaring, and other industrial and urban activities was detected along the Pacific shoreline of southwestern and southern Mexico as well as inland over parts of Mexico and out over the Pacific Ocean. The atmospheric sulfate aerosol was also observed over parts of the southern Bay of Campeche and along coastal regions of southeastern Mexico. DUST: Southern and Central Plains... A large area of dense blowing dust associated with an intense surface low pressure area was observed across the Oklahoma Panhandle, western and central Kansas, and central and eastern Nebraska. Konon 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