West Texas Dust and Smoke February 25-26, 2008

• Radar Animation
• Satellite Animation (red dots show satellite detected fires)
• Satellite Comparison 24th-25th-26th
• Satellite Comparison Texas 24th-26th
• Satellite Image 1:28 pm CST - Texas True Color (from UW SSEC)
• Satellite Image 1:28 pm CST - West Texas True Color (from UW SSEC)
• Web Cam Animation from Big Bend National Park - 2/26/08

Strong gusty northwest winds caused blowing dust and aggravated several large range fires in parts of West Texas on Monday, February 25th.   Wind gusts as high as 61 miles per hour were reported at Plainview.   The most intense blowing dust was in the Big Spring area based on satellite imagery and airport visibility observations.   The dust was carried southward into Southwest Texas.   The strong winds also aggravated wild fires that sent several long smoke plumes across parts of West Texas.   Thick haze from the smoke and dust passed through the Big Bend National Park area on Tuesday morning February 26th.  

PM10 measurements were not available in the most strongly affected blowing dust areas, but airport visibility observations indicate that PM10 likely reached Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale over a large area from Lubbock and Seminole southeastward to Odessa to Big Spring to Sweetwater.   It is possible that PM2.5 AQI levels were higher in smoke immediately downwind of the large wild fires.

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