DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 30, 2023
SMOKE: Central and eastern CONUS… widespread agricultural burning activity was observed from southern Wisconsin into northern Texas and eastward into Virginia and the Carolinas. The dense fire activity was seen from Iowa to Arkansas and Oklahoma with eastern Kansas claiming the most dense area of burning activity. Both active smoke production and remnant smoke layers were observed today. Active smoke production was moving northward across northern Arkansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Kansas...while smoke across Iowa and northern Missouri was moving westward...as was smoke across central Mississippi, southern Arkansas, and northern Louisiana. Smoke across southern Missouri was moving east-northeastward with smoke moving eastward across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and then moving southeast across eastern Tennessee into the western Carolinas and northern Georgia. Most smoke produced was light to moderate in nature. The thickest smoke production was observed across northwestern Arkansas. An area of remnant smoke from previous days’ smoke production across the central CONUS was seen extending from Ohio westward to Nebraska, Kansas, and likely Colorado. BLOWING DUST: Northern Mexico… A few sources of dust in northern Sonora and northern Chihuahua were observed producing light blowing dust. The dust was seen extending north-northeastward into Arizona and New Mexico. From earlier... SMOKE/AEROSOL: Florida/Atlantic Ocean off the Florida Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America/Caribbean Sea/Hispaniola/Jamaica/Cuba... A mixture of thin density smoke from seasonal fire activity across the Yucatan, the southern half of Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and Hispaniola in addition to aerosols from industrial activity both originating from portions of Mexico and Central America and gas flaring in the Bay of Campeche was seen today over most of Mexico, Central America, Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, and the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of the U.S. In addition,the smoke/aerosol mix present in the Gulf of Mexico is combination from both the seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America mixed with activity from Cuba and Hispaniola. A moderate patch of smoke was present over the Bay of Campeche, southern Mexico, the Pacific Ocean off the southwest coast of Mexico. This smoke/aerosol mix may mingled with smoke from agricultural burning in the U.S but cloud cover over in the northern Gulf of Mexico and southeastern CONUS preclude further analysis. - Nguyen Hosley 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