DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 5, 2021
SMOKE:
South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic off the Southeast
U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Mexico/Central America/Pacific
south of Mexico and Central America…
A huge mass of varying density smoke attributed primarily to the
intense seasonal burning occurring in Mexico and Central America was
seen this afternoon covering central, eastern, and southern Mexico,
the northwest part of Central America, a portion of the Pacific south
of Mexico and Central America, the Bay of Campeche, the central and
western Gulf of Mexico, and across a portion of Texas and Louisiana,
and the Southeastern U.S., before spreading to the east and off the
coast of the Southeastern U.S. Within this mass of smoke, moderate
density smoke was present over a good portion of southern and eastern
Mexico and northwestern Central America, with the moderate density smoke
also extending to the north over the Bay of Campeche and the western
half of the Gulf of Mexico and inland over southern and southeastern
Texas, and southern Louisiana. Thicker patches of smoke were visible
over southern Mexico with some of the thicker smoke beginning to move
offshore over the Pacific off the southern coast of Mexico. More thick
smoke was noted spreading to the north over northwestern Central America
and over the Gulf of Honduras and along and off the west coast of the
Yucatan Peninsula and over the Bay of Campeche.
South Central Canada/North Central U.S…
Mainly agricultural fire activity over southeastern Saskatchewan,
southern Manitoba, eastern North Dakota, western Minnesota, and eastern
South Dakota resulting in numerous primarily thin density smoke plumes
which moved to the east and southeast with some plumes combining to form
larger areas of smoke.
Western and Southwestern U.S…
A few growing moderately dense to locally thick smoke plumes were seen in
eastern Washington, central and south central Oregon, northern California,
central Arizona, and western New Mexico.
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