DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1950Z April 13, 2020
SMOKE: Southern Mexico/Guatemala/Honduras/Gulf of Mexico... Widespread fire activity continues across Honduras, Guatemala, and most of southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula. The smoke was predominantly being transported towards the north-northwest prior to turning to the south in the afternoon. Many thick smoke plumes could be seen originating from fires in central and western Honduras, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Large areas of light-to-moderate density smoke concentration covered western Honduras, the Gulf of Honduras and Belize, and the central Yucatan Peninsula. Light-to-moderate smoke also covered the entire region and extended northward over the entire western and central Gulf of Mexico, approaching the coastlines of Texas and Louisiana as well as the western shorelines of Florida. Cuba... Numerous fires again dominated the landscape across the entire island. Smoke was dispersing towards the west. Moderate-density smoke extended offshore to the north nearing the Florida Keys. JL 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