DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 6, 2017
SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Florida...A sizable area of mainly thin density smoke was visible this morning stretching from portions of Southern Mexico and Central America over the Bay of Campeche and the southern and southeastern Gulf of Mexico to as far northeast as the central and southern part of the Florida peninsula. This smoke was attributed to the ongoing significant seasonal burning occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America. DUST: Western Atlantic/Caribbean...The large region of persistent Saharan dust was seen again this morning over the Windward and Leeward Islands and much of the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. The dust appeared to spread inland over the northern part of South America as well as a portion of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula. The dust may have reached into the far southern portion of the Gulf of Mexico where it merged with the large region of smoke from the Mexican and Central American fires. 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: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov