DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 27, 2020
SMOKE:
Southeastern U.S…
A large number of fires producing visible smoke were present over
northeastern Louisiana, southern and central Mississippi, southern and
central Alabama, southwestern Georgia, and the Florida panhandle. The
smoke was primarily of thin density though a few locally thicker plumes
were embedded within this region. Many of the plumes merged together
later in the afternoon resulting in good coverage of smoke which moved
mainly to the north and northeast.
Central and South Central U.S…
Seasonal fires were concentrated over the southeastern part of Kansas
and scattered across Oklahoma though only some smoke could be seen due to
interference from cloudiness passing over the area during the afternoon.
Southern Texas/Mexico/Central America/Cuba…
Large fires in east central Mexico resulted in a broad area of moderate to
thick density smoke which spread to the west and northwest during the day
affecting central Mexico. In addition, widespread significant seasonal
burning was noted over Central America, and southern and southeastern
Mexico which led to an extensive area of relatively thinner density smoke
which covered portions of the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as southern and
central Mexico. The smoke appeared then to spread to the north over the
western Gulf of Mexico, northeastern Mexico, and inland over southern
and southeastern Texas and possibly southwestern Louisiana.
Widespread seasonal fires in Cuba produced smoke of varying density
which thinned out as it generally moved to the south and off the southern
coast of the island.
DUST:
Northeastern Mexico/Southern Texas…
Narrow thin density streaks of blowing dust were visible spreading to
the north from sources in far northeastern Mexico just south of the
southern Texas border and from extreme southern Texas.
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