DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z April 16, 2021
SMOKE:
Central U.S…
Numerous seasonal fires in the Central U.S. were responsible for many
individual smoke plumes of thin to moderate density which moved generally
to the east with a number of them merging to form larger patches of smoke
especially over eastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, southern Iowa,
and western and central Missouri.
Northwestern U.S./Southwestern Canada...
Seasonal wildfires were observed across northern California, Oregon,
eastern Washington, and southwestern Canada producing light to locally
moderate density smokes moving generally to the southwest.
South Central U.S./Southeastern U.S./Mexico/Central America/Gulf of
Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific south of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean…
The ongoing significant amount of seasonal fires occurring in Mexico
and Central America were responsible for a huge area of thin to moderate
density smoke covering portions of southern and eastern Mexico and Central
America and extending to the north over the Bay of Campeche,the western
Gulf of Mexico, and south of Mexico over the Pacific. A few embedded
patches of thick density smoke were visible closer to some of the more
intense fires in Mexico. An area of moderate density smoke was located
just off the east coast of Mexico and extended northeast to just southeast
of southern Texas. Thinner density smoke appeared to extend at least as
far to the north and east to portions of South Central and Southeastern
US and off Atlantic Ocean.
Cuba/Southern Florida…
Seasonal fires in Cuba produced many smoke plumes which generally moved
to the west and northwest. The plumes were merged with the ones from
Mexico and carried by the weather system moving off Atlantic Ocean.
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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