DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z April 23, 2021
SMOKE: Eastern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Far NW Caribbean/Cuba… An area of light to moderate remnant smoke was blanketing an area extending from Cuba to the east coast of Mexico. The thickest smoke was over the western Gulf of Mexico and eastern Mexico extending northward from the northern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the western Bay of Campeche to about the US/Mexico border extending east to south of the Mississippi Delta. This area of smoke was moving generally eastward until reaching the western Gulf, where the smoke was drawn north into the NW Gulf of Mexico and then drawn eastward. A couple active smoke plumes were also noted across Cuba and Mexico. Florida... About a half-dozen smoke producing burns south of Lake Okeechobee were observed producing light smoke that moved off toward the west. Elsewhere… A few small and light smoke plumes were observed across the rest of North America (Arizona, Alberta, and North Carolina). Cloud cover present over the Great Plains and southeastern CONUS was obscuring the surface this morning, preventing the analysis of fire and smoke activity. It is likely there is at least some fire and smoke activity from Texas to Kansas and east to Georgia. Hosley 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