DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0220Z May 22, 2022
SMOKE: Area from New Mexico and the Central and South Central U.S. eastward and northeastward through much of the 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 and eastern United States. The smoke continued from coastal areas well offshore to the east over the western and central Atlantic Ocean. Areas of moderate to high density smoke were seen extending northeast from the fires over New Mexico and also southeast of New England coastal areas. 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 the United States western Gulf of Mexico coastal areas, the western Gulf of Mexico, much of eastern and southern Mexico along with northwestern Central America and offshore to the south of Mexico over the Pacific. BLOWING DUST: Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea… The area of Saharan Dust continued to progress slowly to the west across the subtropical and tropical Atlantic and over the entire Caribbean region and extending northwest into southern Florida and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Hanna 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