Wednesday, March 25, 2020

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 26, 2020

SMOKE:
Southeastern U.S…
Scattered seasonal fire activity along the Gulf Coast region was
responsible for a number of primarily thin density smoke plumes which
moved to the east during the afternoon. The smoke was most prevalent
across southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, southern Georgia, and
the Florida panhandle.

Central and South Central U.S…
Scattered seasonal fires were detected across portions of Texas, Oklahoma,
and Kansas resulting in dozens of individual smoke plumes of mainly
thin density. The most widespread smoke was noted across northwestern
and northern Oklahoma as well as south central Kansas, and southern Texas.

Mexico/Central America/Cuba…
A significant amount of seasonal fires were detected over southern and
southeastern Mexico, Central America, and Cuba. Locally moderate density
smoke over Cuba fanned out and thinned out in density as it spread off
both the northern and southern coasts of the island. A tremendous number
of visible smoke plumes were noted over southern Mexico and Central
America with some of them merging to form larger areas of smoke. The most
concentrated and thicker density smoke was spreading west from larger
fires in east central Mexico. A concentrated region of fire activity was
also present over portions of the Yucatan Peninsula which resulted in
smoke of varying density which moved to the west and northwest with some
of the smoke entering the Bay of Campeche and the southern Gulf of Mexico.

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/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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.