DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 19, 2020
SMOKE:
Central U.S…
Seasonal fire activity especially over northeastern Oklahoma and eastern
Kansas was responsible for a number of mainly thin density smoke plumes
some of which merged to form a larger swath of thin density smoke which
was transported to the north and northeast from northeastern Oklahoma
and eastern Kansas across southeastern Nebraska, northwestern Missouri,
and over much of Iowa.
Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas/Southern Louisiana/Southern
Florida/Mexico/Central America/Cuba…
A massive amount of fire activity was detected in portions of Central
America and central, southern, and southeastern Mexico resulting in
a huge mass of smoke which blanketed Central America, the southern
half of Mexico, virtually all of the Gulf of Mexico, the far southern
portions of Texas and Louisiana, and southern Florida. Embedded within
this large mass of smoke was an area of moderate to thick density smoke
which affected Central America from Honduras to Guatemala and northward
from there over the Yucatan Peninsula and over the Bay of Campeche and
the southern Gulf of Mexico. Relatively thicker smoke also was visible
along and off the southern coast of Mexico over the Pacific. Additional
thinner density smoke was located near and offshore of Cuba from seasonal
fire activity occurring in Cuba.
DUST:
Northern Mexico/Western Texas/Southern New Mexico…
A developing area of thin density blowing dust originated from sources
in northern Chihuahua in northern Mexico and spread to the east and
northeast over western Texas including El Paso and southern New 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