South Texas Blowing Dust March 3, 2008

• Radar Animation
• Satellite Composite
• Satellite Animation
• Satellite Comparison
• Satellite Image 11:56 am CST - South Texas True Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 1:34 pm CST - Texas True Color (from UW SSEC)

Strong gusty northwest winds caused blowing dust in parts of South Texas on Monday, March 3rd.   Wind gusts as high as 58 miles per hour were reported at Laredo.   The most intense blowing dust was exposed soil in areas along the Rio Grande.   The strong winds also aggravated a wild fire northwest of Laredo that sent a smoke plume into northeastern Mexico.  

The highest measured daily average PM10 was 241 micrograms per cubic meter at the Laredo Continuous Ambient Monitoring Station (CAMS) 44, which rated as, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale.   The Laredo Airport visibilities did not indicate very high dust levels and satellite imagery also did not show widespread dust in the Laredo area, so the dust measured at Laredo CAMS 44 was probably a localized plume of dust affecting a relatively small area.    Measured PM10 also reached "Moderate" levels at Mission CAMS 43 and, based on visibility measurements, PM10 may have have reached "Moderate" levels at Del Rio and Eagle Pass as well.

Some airport minimum visibility and peak wind gust observations are shown below: