DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 20, 2020
SMOKE:
Central U.S…
Seasonal fire activity was prominent across portions of the Central
U.S. especially from northeastern Oklahoma and eastern Kansas northward
across eastern Nebraska, eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota,
and Iowa. A number of smoke plumes and areas of primarily thin density
smoke were visible spreading to the east and southeast across southern
Minnesota and Iowa. More thin to locally moderate dense smoke was seen
moving to the southwest across eastern and south central Kansas into
north central Oklahoma.
Southern Texas/Gulf Coast Region/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central
America/Cuba…
A huge mass of smoke emanating from a tremendous amount of seasonal
burning occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America was present
covering the southern and southeastern part of Mexico, Central America,
much of the Gulf of Mexico, and across the fringes of the Gulf Coast
region from southern Texas to Florida. It was not known if smoke
extended farther inland over the Southeastern U.S. due to cloud cover
in that region. Thick smoke was present over Honduras, Guatemala,
southeastern Mexico including the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Bay
of Campeche and southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Moderately dense smoke
extended up into extreme southern Texas and over much of the western
Gulf of Mexico. Additional areas of smoke were visible from seasonal
fires in Cuba.
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