DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 22, 2020
SMOKE: Central and North Central U.S… Thin to locally moderate density smoke from a concentrated area of seasonal burning was present over eastern Kansas. Additional thin density smoke plumes from more seasonal burning were visible over portions of Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa. Southern Texas/Southern Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America/Cuba… A huge area of smoke attributed to ongoing massive seasonal burning in Mexico and Central America covered Central America, much of central, southern, and southeastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, the central and southern Gulf of Mexico, southern Texas, and southern Florida. Thin to moderate density smoke also extended offshore of the southern coast of Mexico over the Pacific. The thickest smoke extended from Honduras across Guatemala and portions of southeastern Mexico including the Yucatan Peninsula. The thicker smoke also moved northward over the Bay of Campeche. Moderately dense smoke extended farther to the north along the east coast of Mexico and into far southern Texas and to the east across the southern Gulf of Mexico. DUST: Southeastern Arizona… A narrow swath of fairly dense blowing dust originated from the Wilcox Playa in southeastern Arizona and moved to the east reaching southwestern New Mexico by late in the day. Southern New Mexico...A patch of rather thin density blowing dust originated from White Sands in south central New Mexico and moved off to the northeast during the late afternoon. 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