DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z December 8, 2023
SMOKE: Upper Mississippi Valley… A patch of leftover thin density smoke was visible this morning along the eastern edge of an area of clouds moving to the east and northeast across eastern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and the western part of Lake Superior. This smoke was believed to be from yesterday’s round of seasonal fire activity primarily centered over the eastern Dakotas, and southwestern and southern Minnesota. Lake Huron/Southeastern Ontario… A relatively small area of remnant thin density smoke was seen moving to the north over a portion of Lake Huron and southeastern Ontario. The smoke was likely from some of yesterday’s seasonal fire activity over the central and southeastern U.S. Southeastern U.S… Widespread cloudiness moved across much of the south central and southeastern U.S. during the morning which prevented the detection through satellite imagery of any smoke which might be present in the region. Significant seasonal type fire activity was detected across the south central and southeastern U.S. yesterday and overnight which likely resulted in at least some smoke which is obscured by the cloud cover. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Bay of Campeche/Southern and Southeastern Mexico/Pacific Ocean south of the southern coast of Mexico… Areas of thin density aerosol were present this morning over some of the Bay of Campeche, southern and southeastern Mexico, and a sizable portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the southern coast of Mexico. Most of this aerosol was likely due to industrial activities in Mexico and northern Central America though some smoke from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche was also visible. 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