DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z February 23, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southeastern U.S./Eastern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast U.S. Coast Including the Bahamas/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Hispaniola… A very large area of what is believed to be a combination of smoke from seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires occurring in Hispaniola, Cuba, the northern Bahamas, and the southeastern U.S., and aerosols from industrial activity especially in Hispaniola and Cuba was seen early today extending from Hispaniola to the west over the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica, and Cuba. From there, the smoke/aerosol mixture spread more to the northwest and north over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, a portion of the Southeastern U.S., and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the southeastern U.S. The majority of the smoke/aerosol mix was thin density though a band of moderate density smoke/aerosol mix was visible over the Caribbean just south of Cuba and extending to the northwest and north over some of western Cuba,and the eastern Gulf of Mexico along and just off the west coast of Florida. Additional patches of moderate density smoke/aerosol were also seen along and just off the northeast coast of Florida and over a portion of the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia. DUST: Area from Texas to the Great Lakes Region… A swath of remnant blowing dust was visible this morning stretching from central and eastern Texas to the northeast across the Middle Mississippi Valley region to the central Great Lakes region. The dust was generally thin in density though thicker dust was noted moving to the east over Indiana, southern Lake Michigan, southern Lower Michigan, and western Ohio. The source of the dust was likely attributed to stronger winds yesterday over western Texas, eastern New Mexico, and northern 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