DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 17, 2008
Southeastern US: Many fires and smoke plumes were detected in satellite imagery across the Southeastern US during the day with the majority of the plumes being of the thin density variety. The plumes over the interior Southeast were close to the center of a high pressure system and remained rather localized under light winds. Florida: A fire over southwestern Collier County in southwestern Florida was emitting a long plume of thin density which moved well offshore to the west. Georgia: A moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume was observed moving to the south from a fire along the northern border of Bryan and Liberty Counties of southeastern Georgia. South Carolina: A fire in southern Dorchester County of southeastern South Carolina was responsible for a very long thin swath of smoke which spread southward and well off the coast. Alabama: A moderately dense plume moved to the north from a fire in Clarke County of western Alabama. Louisiana: A fire in Grant Parish of central Louisiana produced a moderately dense to dense smoke plume which moved to the north toward the AR border. Eastern Texas: Several fires from northern Montgomery to Sabine Counties of eastern Texas emitted moderately dense to dense smoke plumes which moved to the north. Arkansas: Fires in northern Polk and Scott Counties produced moderately dense to dense smoke which combined into a larger mass of smoke that spread in a northerly direction. Kansas/Oklahoma: Many fires were detected again in satellite imagery over eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, but cloudiness across the region prevented smoke detection. Western Texas/New Mexico: A fire in western Dawson County of western Texas was responsible for a long thin smoke plume that moved in a northeasterly direction. Fires in Socorro and western Torrance Counties of central New Mexico and Hidalgo County of southwestern New Mexico produced very long thin to locally moderately dense smoke plumes which spread rapidly to the northeast. In addition, several sources of blowing dust were noted over northern Mexico(just south of the NM border), New Mexico, and southwestern and western Texas. The swaths of blowing dust covered portions of central and southern New Mexico as well as southweastern, western, and northwestern Texas. Arizona: A fire in northern Greenlee County of eastern Arizona emitted a long smoke plume which also moved to the northeast into western New Mexico. California: A mainly thin smoke plume moved to the southwest across Orange County and offshore from a fire in southwestern San Bernardino County. Fires in Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties of east central CA produced thin smoke plumes which fanned out as they moved southwest into central CA. Oregon: 2 Fires in Josephine County of southwestern Oregon produced thin to moderately dense smoke which moved to the southwest and eventually offshore. A bit farther to the northeast, a fire in northwestern Lane County of south central Oregon was responsible for a moderately dense to dense smoke plume which spread in a southeasterly direction. Washington: A thin smoke plume spread quickly to the northeast from at least one of several fires in Columbia County in southeastern Washington. Hawaii: A bit of possible smoke was visible moving to the southwest and offshore which was believed to be from the lava flows associated with the Kilauea Volcano burning vegetation. A larger mass of what is believed to be volcanic steam/fog (VOG) was also seen moving to the west and northwest off the coast of the Big Island. JS