DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z January 11, 2023
SMOKE: Southeastern U.S./Eastern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast Coast… A batch of leftover mainly thin density smoke attributed to recent rounds of primarily seasonal fire activity was seen this morning roughly over the southern half of Georgia, the eastern Carolinas, and Florida with the smoke also covering a portion of the far eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern U.S. coast. Embedded smaller areas of moderate density smoke were visible over the Atlantic to the east of the Georgia coast. SMOKE/AEROSOL: U.S. Central and Western Gulf Coast Region/Northern and Western Gulf of Mexico/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern Mexico and Northwest Central America… A huge area of primarily thin density aerosol, composed in part by industrial activities in Mexico and seasonal fire activity also in Mexico, was visible this morning covering a good portion of eastern and southern Mexico, some of northwestern Central America, and extending south of those areas well out over the Pacific. A patch of moderate density smoke/aerosol mixture was present over a portion of the coast of southeastern Mexico and extending to the south over the Pacific. The thin density smoke/aerosol mixture also stretched to the north over the western and northern Gulf of Mexico and inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region from Texas to the western Florida panhandle. Cloud cover farther inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region limited additional information on the extent of the smoke/aerosol. Cuba/Caribbean… Areas of remnant thin density smoke/aerosol were seen this morning over portions of Cuba and south of there over the Caribbean Sea. The smoke was from recent and ongoing seasonal type fire activity in Cuba which is mixed with emissions from industrial activity in Cuba. DUST: Texas… A region of possible leftover thin density blowing dust was noted in satellite imagery this morning moving to the east over southwestern and central Texas. This possible dust may have been kicked up by stronger winds occurring over western Texas and eastern New Mexico. 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