DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0210Z March 17, 2021
SMOKE:
Southern Texas/Eastern Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche…
Similar to recent days, an aerosol which is likely composed at least in
part by remnant thin density smoke from ongoing seasonal fire activity in
Mexico was visible across portions of eastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche,
the western Gulf of Mexico and likely extending up over southern Texas
though cloudiness in that area did interfere with the northern extent
of the smoke in satellite imagery. In addition, a swath of thin density
smoke was noted moving to the northwest from oil rig flaring in the Bay
of Campeche. Smoke of light density continued to expand through the Gulf
and from the oil rigs throughout the evening hours.
Southern Mexico/Pacific south of Mexico…
Remnant thin density smoke was visible across the southern portion of
Mexico and the nearby Pacific south of Mexico. This smoke was due to the
seasonal fire activity in southern Mexico and northern Central America.
Central Mexico…
New smoke plumes of light density were visible extending to the northeast
of a large amount of seasonal fires in the interior of central Mexico.
Florida Peninsula…
A number of smoke plumes were visible emanating from scattered
agricultural and seasonal fires in south and south-central Florida.
Prior to cloud cover preventing visibility, light density smoke plumes
were observed moving primarily northward.
Cuba…
A large amount of primarily light density smoke was observed emanating
from the north shores of the island in the north-northwest direction
towards southern Florida. Southern shore fires were producing light
density smoke plumes that moved towards the south over water.
South-central Plains…
Widespread agricultural fires in the plains were producing a number of
scattered light density smoke plumes. Smoke fanned as it moved primarily
northward, but cloud cover and the interaction with a large weather
system and an extensive amount of dust made it very difficult to discern.
DUST:
Eastern Atlantic…
Saharan dust continued to be seen over the eastern Atlantic and along
the western coast of Africa.
Southwestern U.S into Plains…
A tremendous amount of dust was observed blowing from the northern
states of Mexico into New Mexico and Texas before it was wrapped into
a low-pressure system spinning in the four-corners region. Dust was
observed in west Texas, eastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma panhandle
and likely extends into Colorado and Kansas, but cloud cover obscures
visibility.
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