DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z April 29, 2012
Smoke: Western Gulf of Mexico, Coastal Texas/SW Louisiana: Light to moderate remnant smoke from numerous agricultural fires in Southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula have surged northward on strong southerly winds across the western portion of GoM. The smoke has reached as far north as 30N and covers almost all of the Western Gulf west of 90W. This is low level to surface smoke so only the coastal plains of Mexico are currently affected. Asian aerosols (likely mostly dust/sand with some smoke): An extremely large portion of the western US is covered with thin to moderate aerosols from Asia and covers as far south as the CA/Mexican boarder across central AZ in the 4-corners back across UT, S ID and WA. It is particularly dense across Northern and Central CA and N AZ. Uncertain aerosols: Manitoba/SW Ontario and Boundary Waters of MN: A very thin haze of uncertain aerosols (maybe smoke from numerous agricultural burn days across S Manitoba or even the aforementioned Asian aerorsols that have rotated over the ridge over northern Canada) can be seen extending from Central Lake Winnepeg across a large portion of SW Ontario to Lake Superior and Nipigon. The area is moving very slowly Neward and is about 350km wide from the Minnesota Boundary Waters into Canada. Gallina 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