DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z February 22, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: Hispaniola/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico/Bahamas/Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast… A broad area of varying density smoke from seasonal fire activity along with a few wildfires occurring especially in Hispaniola, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Southeastern U.S. with some aerosol mixed in primarily from Hispaniola and Cuba was seen this morning extending from Hispaniola westward over Jamaica and the Caribbean as well as Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico where it likely merges with a mixture of smoke/aerosol linked to seasonal fire activity and industrial activity in Mexico and Central America which was spreading to the north and northeast. The smoke/aerosol mix then extends up into much of the Southeastern U.S. possibly reaching the Ohio Valley though cloud cover hinders detection in this region. The smoke/aerosol mixture then stretches off the southeastern U.S. coast over the Atlantic. Additional moderately dense smoke was noted especially emanating from a fire on Andros Island in the Bahamas and moving to the north. Within the larger mass of thin density smoke/aerosol mixture was a sizable swath of moderately dense smoke attributed mainly to the significant fire activity in Cuba. This area of moderately dense smoke was located over Cuba and a portion of the Caribbean Sea south of Cuba and extending to the northwest and north across the eastern Gulf of Mexico nearly reaching the Florida panhandle. Another batch of remnant moderate density smoke was present close to and extending to the east and southeast of the South Carolina coast. This particular batch was likely from the fire on Andros Island in the Bahamas or from some of the more significant fires yesterday in the southeastern U.S. Mexico/Central America/Gulf of Mexico/South Central and Southeastern U.S… A very large mass of thin density smoke/aerosol mixture from seasonal fire activity and industrial activity in Mexico and Central America was visible this morning over portions of southern and eastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the south central and southeastern U.S. possibly reaching the Ohio Valley region though cloud cover interfered with smoke detection in that area. The smoke/aerosol from Mexico and Central America likely merged with smoke/aerosol from Hispaniola and Cuba which was spreading to the west, somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico with the mixture from those sources as well as from the southeastern U.S. moving across the southeastern U.S. and over the Atlantic off the southeast U.S. coast. BLOWING DUST: Texas/New Mexico… Some rather thin density blowing dust may be seen over portions of southeastern Mexico and western Texas spreading to the east this morning. Southern California/Arizona/Northwestern Mexico… Swaths of thin density blowing dust appear to be present over a portion of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. One stripe appears to be emanating from the desert regions of southeastern California to the northeast of the Salton Sea and spreading to the east into west central Arizona. The second area originates from desert sources to the southeast of the Salton Sea in far southeastern California, as well as southwestern Arizona, and far northwestern Mexico with the dust also moving to the east. 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