DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0212z April 21, 2021
SMOKE:
Mid-Mississippi Valley/Tennessee/Eastern Texas…
A few patches of remnant thin density smoke were seen through breaks
in the cloud line 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. Light smoke also appeared in eastern Texas and southern Arkansas
as clouds moved out of the region. Cloud cover moving through the plains
prevented additional detection of any possible leftover or new smoke in
that area.
Southeast U.S…
Widespread fire activity throughout the entire southeastern United
States including eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
Florida panhandle, the Carolinas and into Virginia was producing a large
amount of primarily light to medium density smoke. The large number of
fires created extensive smoke cover that encompassed much of Alabama,
eastern Mississippi and a majority of Georgia. Smoke was moving primarily
eastward, with some plumes turning toward the northeast in areas such
as North Carolina and Virginia. Larger fire complexes produced medium
to heavy density smoke in Alabama and Florida. Light cloud cover likely
obscured some visibility of additional smoke and fire activity.
Pacific Northwest…
Isolated fires throughout northern Idaho, eastern Washington, Oregon and
Northern California were producing mostly light density smoke plumes
that appeared to move southwest. Some medium density smoke was also
observed with the larger fire complex in northern Idaho.
Mexico/Central America/Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Pacific south
of Mexico…
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. Throughout the evening,
light density smoke continued to expand throughout the Gulf of Mexico,
nearing the western shores of the Florida panhandle and the southern tip
of Texas. New plumes were also observed in northwestern Mexico with
generally east-northeast movement. Smoke concentrated in the southern
region of Mexico became medium to heavy in density as fire activity
continued to grow.
Cuba…
Widespread fire activity on the island was producing primarily light
density smoke that moved northward off of the island and into waters
just south of the Florida Keys.
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. No new blowing dust was observed in the region
this evening.
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. By
evening, much of the dust had dissipated, and the presence of clouds
made it nearly impossible to detect any remnant dust.
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