DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z May 21, 2022
SMOKE: Area from New Mexico and the Central and South Central U.S. eastward and northeastward through much of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern United States and offshore over the Western and Central Atlantic Ocean… A very large expanse of mainly thin density smoke was seen stretching from near the wildfires burning in New Mexico to the east and northeast across a good portion of the central and south central United States to the Great Lakes region, Mid-Atlantic region, and northeastern United States. The smoke continued from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coastal areas well offshore to the east over the western and central Atlantic Ocean. Widespread cloud cover from the Front Range of the Central and Southern Rockies to the lower Great Lakes region did limit some information through satellite imagery on the extent and density of any smoke which might still be present there. A swath of moderately dense smoke was noted stretching from the Bear Trap and Black wildfires in southwestern New Mexico to the east and northeast reaching the western Oklahoma and northwestern Texas panhandle region. Locally thick smoke was visible near and just east of the Bear Trap and Black fires. Smoke from the New Mexico wildfires likely merged with smoke from the ongoing significant seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires burning in Mexico, over the south central U.S. SMOKE/AEROSOL: U.S. Gulf Coast States, Mexico, Central America, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific south of Mexico and Central America... A large area of mostly light to moderate density smoke from widespread ongoing seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires mixed with aerosols from oil/gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico was observed covering most of Mexico, parts of Central America, the western and central Gulf of Mexico and extending well offshore to the south of Mexico and Central America over the Pacific. The smoke/aerosol was being transported to the north and likely reached inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region and south central U.S. where it mixed with smoke from the New Mexico wildfires. Within the larger area of thin density smoke was a region of moderate density smoke that covered much of eastern and southern Mexico along with northwestern Central America and offshore to the south of Mexico over the Pacific. The moderate density smoke also covered the Bay of Campeche, western Mexico, and southern Texas. BLOWING DUST: Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea… The significant area of Saharan Dust continued to progress slowly to the west across the subtropical and tropical Atlantic and over virtually the entire Caribbean region including Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. From there the area of dust curved to the northwest over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, southern Florida, and the southern Bahamas. New Mexico/Texas… A fairly substantial batch of blowing dust was visible this morning moving to the south over southeastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas, generally near and to the south and southwest of Midland-Odessa. Gulf of California/Baja… Some blowing dust could be seen in spots over the Gulf of California and Baja this morning. JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov