DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z February 25, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern United States, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern United States Coast, Eastern and Southern Mexico, Northwestern Central America, Western Caribbean Sea and the Pacific South of Southern Mexico and Northwestern Central America… A huge area of primarily thin density smoke/aerosol was seen over much of the same area recently impacted over the past number of days. The northern edge of the smoke/aerosol mix stretched from far southern Texas eastward across the United States Gulf Coast region and offshore of the southeastern United States over the Atlantic. In addition, the smoke/aerosol mix also covered the Gulf of Mexico, eastern and southern Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Pacific south of the southern coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America and the western part of the Caribbean Sea. For the smoke part of the mix, smoke from seasonal fires and a few wildfires across Cuba spread to the west over the Caribbean Sea and eventually merged with smoke from seasonal fire activity across Mexico and Central America which was generally moving to the north. The resultant mix then moved over the Gulf of Mexico and then to the northeast across a portion of the southeastern United States where it merged with smoke from some fire activity across the southeastern United States. For the aerosol component of the mix, aerosols from industrial activity primarily in Mexico and Central America were believed to be transported along with the smoke from these regions. A few patches of embedded moderately dense smoke/aerosol mix were seen along coastal areas of south Texas extending south along the east coast of Mexico and from coastal areas of southwest Mexico and northwestern Central America and extending into the eastern Pacific Ocean. 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