Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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





 


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.