DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0057Z November 17, 2023
SMOKE: Ohio/Kentucky/Tennessee/West Virginia/Southeastern U.S./ Atlantic ocean… Several fires throughout the west-central Appalachians and southeastern U.S. were observed through the day producing moderate smoke plumes generally moving north within a larger area of light smoke from the previous and today's seasonal burning that was extending through to the fire in Virginia (noted below) and east off the northeast U.S. coast over the Atlantic Ocean just south of Nova Scotia. Notable fires were seen along the Tennessee/North Carolina border, in eastern Tennessee northwest of Knoxville, and in eastern Kentucky. Mid-Atlantic US… A large wildfire in Bedford County, Virginia was observed producing an area of smoke of up to high density moving north at this time, although smoke was also observed moving east and south of this fire from earlier in the the day. Light and moderate smoke from this fire extended east-northeast joining the smoke above traveling off the coast into the Atlantic ocean. AEROSOL: Mexico/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico… An area of aerosol was seen today across southern Mexico and the Pacific Ocean south of the southern coast of Mexico. It is believed that the vast majority of it is from industrial activities in Mexico but the eruption of the Popocatépetl Volcano, southeast of Mexico city, could be seen releasing large amounts of at least moderate ash that extended to the southeast towards the mass of Aerosols and can be a contributing factor. Eglin 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