DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z March 6, 2012
0630Z Update: California: Area of detached smoke seen drifting southward across portions of San Joaquin Valley during the last few hours of visible satellite imagery. Smoke is likely from cluster of fires along the northern rim of the San Joaquin Valley. Additional smoke is getting added from fires burning in the central portions of the valley and these smoke plumes are still attached to their source. Warren 0505Z Update: Kansas/Nebraska/Oklahoma/Texas: An area of elevated dust was observed over south-central Nebraska, western and central Kansas, western Oklahoma including the panhandle, and the far northeastern corner of the Texas panhandle. Strong winds over the central Plains states were the cause of the blowing dust. Midwest/Southern Mississippi River Valley: Aerosol believed to be a combination of dust from Asia and the United States continued to move across the Midwest today. This aerosol was viewed over portions of Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Smoke from a large amount of ag burning in Arkansas/Missouri was mixing with this aerosol in places. Gulf of Mexico/Florida/Atlantic: A large area of aerosol covered the northern Gulf of Mexico, much of southern and central Florida, and extended out over the Atlantic ocean ahead of a low pressure system that was exiting the Mid-Atlantic region. Most of this aerosol over the Gulf, Florida, as well as some of the thicker aerosol off the Southeast US is believed to be remnant smoke from fires the southern US over the past few days. The other aerosol over the Atlantic is unknown aerosols that may be mixing with remnant smoke. An area of smoke along the Florida panhandle tonight was from today's fires in southern Mississippi and southern Alabama mostly. Sheffler THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov