DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z December 18, 2023
SMOKE: Eastern Texas/Louisiana/Northwestern Gulf of Mexico… Patches of leftover thin density smoke were visible this morning over portions of eastern Texas, southern Louisiana, and the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. This leftover smoke was likely due to yesterday’s round of seasonal fire activity across the south central U.S. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: A large swath of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was present early this morning in a curved band extending from the Northern Plains to the south and southeast across the Central Plains and Mid-Mississippi Valley region and then to the east and northeast over the Tennessee Valley region and over and just east of the southern and central Appalachians. An additional band of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen along a frontal boundary stretching from just northeast of the Bahamas to Long Island and the coast of southern New England. AEROSOL/DUST/SMOKE: Southern and Southeastern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico and Northwestern Central America… Areas of thin to moderate density aerosol were seen this morning across some of southern and southeastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and the Pacific Ocean south of the southern coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America. Since only minor fire activity was analyzed over Mexico and northwestern Central America, it is believed that the vast majority of it is from industrial activities in these locations. Blowing dust spreading south over the Gulf of Tehuantepec from sources in far southeastern Mexico and southwestern Guatemala may also be contributing to the aerosol visible in satellite imagery. 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