DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z April 20, 2021
SMOKE:
Mid-Mississippi Valley/Tennessee…
A few patches of remnant thin density smoke were seen this morning across
the Middle Mississippi Valley region and over west-central Tennessee. This
smoke was likely attributed to yesterday’s round of seasonal burning
in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Cloud cover closer to that
region and to the west of this morning’s leftover smoke prevented
additional detection of any possible leftover smoke in that area.
Mexico/Central America/Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Pacific south
of Mexico…
This morning’s visible smoke linked to the ongoing seasonal fire
activity occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America was visible
over much of southern and eastern Mexico and northwestern Central America
and extending to the north over the Bay of Campeche and the southern part
of the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the thinner density smoke was also seen
off the southern coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America over
the Pacific. The thicker portion of this smoke which was mainly moderate
to locally thick density was located over southern Mexico with some
moderate density smoke possibly over the southwestern Bay of Campeche.
DUST:
Southeastern New Mexico/Western Texas…
Some blowing dust was seen this morning across southeastern New Mexico
and western Texas which was moving to the south after being kicked up
by strong northerly winds.
Western Atlantic/Caribbean Region…
The light density Saharan dust which had been visible slowly spreading
to the west across portions of the western Atlantic over the Bahamas
and off the Southeast U.S. and over portions of the Caribbean Sea and
Caribbean islands was still visible this morning but was continuing to
thin out making detection in satellite imagery increasingly difficult.
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