DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z April 17, 2021
SMOKE:
Mexico/Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific south
of Mexico/Cuba/Bahamas…
A large mass of thin to moderate density smoke was present this morning
encompassing much of eastern and southern Mexico, a portion of Central
America, the Pacific south of Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, much of
the Gulf of Mexico, and possibly extending across Florida though cloud
cover over Florida is affecting detection in satellite imagery. More
localized embedded patches of dense smoke were seen closer to some
of the more active fires in southern and southeastern Mexico. Much of
this smoke was due to the ongoing seasonal fire activity in Mexico and
Central America. Farther to the east, more seasonal burning in Cuba was
responsible for an area of thin density smoke which was moving off to
the northeast over some of the Bahamas.
UNKNOWN AEROSOL:
North Central U.S./South Central Canada...
A thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen early
this morning over a portion of eastern Montana, northeastern Wyoming, the
Dakotas, northwestern Minnesota, and extending northward over southeastern
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and western Ontario. It is unknown if any smoke
from seasonal fire activity in southern Canada or the Northwestern or
North Central U.S. may be contributing to this aerosol or if it may be
composed of long range dust transport aloft from Asia.
DUST:
A large area of Saharan Dust of primarily thin to perhaps locally
moderate density was visible this morning stretching from the coast of
Africa westward all the way to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean south of
Puerto Rico. The leading edge of the dust is also now beginning to move
farther to the west over Hispaniola.
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