DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 2, 2023
SMOKE: Southwestern Canada/Intermountain West… Fire activity from Montana into Alberta and Saskatchewan was observed producing light to moderate density smoke. Smoke was moving anywhere from westward across areas in the lee of the Rockies to northward across central Saskatchewan. Central Canada/Great Plains/Southeastern CONUS… Isolated to scattered smoke production from presumably agricultural burning was observed from southern Manitoba to Kansas to the Gulf Coast and southern Florida. Much of the smoke was of a light density, although a few of moderate density were noted as well. Smoke was moving counter-clockwise around the western and southern periphery of a sprawling low pressure area over the eastern Great Lakes. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Central America/Mexico/Tropical Pacific/Gulf of Mexico/southern CONUS/western Caribbean/Cuba/Bahamas/North Atlantic Ocean… Continuing widespread fire activity throughout Mexico and Central America continues to contribute to an expansive area of mainly smoke of varying density. Light smoke blankets an area covering the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, nearly all of Central America, a vast majority of Mexico, nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico, portions of Texas and New Mexico, the western Caribbean, Cuba, the Bahamas, and portions of the western North Atlantic UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Northern Gulf Coast/southeastern CONUS/western North Atlantic… A thin area of unknown aerosol was observed across the Gulf Coast states extending eastward out into the Atlantic Ocean to perhaps near Bermuda. The possible sourced of this aerosol include remnant smoke from previous days and remnant smoke from dust storms in Asia over a week ago. BLOWING DUST… Central Illinois into southern Indiana… A storm system over the Great Lakes was observed kicking up dust from unknown sources in west-central Illinois this afternoon. The dust was then transported southeastward across Illinois and into Indiana. The dust may have reached northern Kentucky late this afternoon into the evening, but cloud cover obscured the advance and leading edge of the dust cloud. California/Nevada… Another system across the US West Coast was observed kicking up dust from numerous sources throughout Nevada and southern California. The lofted dust was being transported north-northwestward from most source, with the northern edge of some of the dust plumes in Nevada encroaching upon southeastern Oregon. One exception to dust moving north-northwest is across far southern California, where a fairly dense dust plume was moving eastward across the Salton Sea. 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