DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z March 16, 2012
Central and Southeastern US: The majority of the fires analyzed during the day were across the Central US and the Southeast. A significant number of smoke plumes were visible in satellite imagery especially over the Southeast. However, cloudiness did interfere with smoke detection particularly over the Central US. JS Earlier This Morning... Eastern Gulf of Mexico: A large area of light remnant smoke can be seen over the northeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico moving westward off the Florida coast. This is most likely leftover smoke and new smoke from the numerous agricultural fires in Florida and specifically near Lake Okeechobee. Off the US Southeast Coast: A thin area of what appears to be light smoke can be seen moving southward and westward back towards the South Carolina/Georgia coastline. This is most likely remnant from a large fire that was burning yesterday near the Francis Marion National Forest, just north of Charleston, South Carolina as well as other numerous agricultural fires burning in that region yesterday. -Belge 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