DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2345Z March 18, 2020
SMOKE: South Florida/Southeastern Georgia... Smoke from agricultural fires observed south of Lake Okeechobee earlier today has drifted westward and mixed in with smoke plumes from fires in Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, and Charlotte counties spreading over areas north and south of Tampa Bay and the adjacent Gulf coastline in the form of light-density smoke higher up in the atmosphere. Additional fires in northern Florida and southwestern Georgia were also emitting light-density smoke plumes heading towards the north-northeast. Cuba… Widespread afire activity could be seen along much of the island this afternoon. Light-to-moderate density smoke plumes were dispersing towards the west-southwest blanketing the western shoreline and extending for approximately 150 miles off the coast. Southern Mexico/Western Yucatan Peninsula... Numerous seasonal fires were actively burning this afternoon across western Yucatan peninsula and the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and Veracruz. A pocket of light-density stagnant smoke covered central Chiapas, western Tabasco and the majority of Veracruz. Additional light-density smoke from gas flaring activity associated with oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche was seen extending for more than 350 miles in the northwest direction towards the central Gulf of Mexico. WS 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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/ KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire) http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke) ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov