DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z January 15, 2022
SMOKE:
Southeastern U.S…
A batch of leftover mainly thin density smoke from yesterday’s round of
seasonal type fire activity over the southeastern U.S. was visible this
morning over portions of northern and central Florida, southern Georgia,
and the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico and the nearby Atlantic Ocean
off the coast of northeastern and east central Florida.
North Central Texas…
Several very long narrow thin to locally moderate density smoke plumes
were seen spreading quickly to the southeast from grassland/brush fires in
north central Texas which were being fanned by strong northwesterly winds.
Hispaniola/Western Cuba/Caribbean…
Areas of thin density smoke and more localized thicker smoke were
emanating from wildfires in the southwestern part of the Dominican
Republic this morning. The smoke was generally moving and fanning out
to the north though remnant smoke extended to the west over portions of
the Caribbean and reaching far western Cuba.
Smoke/Aerosol…
Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Northwestern
Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America…
A very large area of primarily thin density aerosol which is composed in
part from smoke from seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America
along with pollution from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources
in those regions was seen over the Bay of Campeche, the western and
southern Gulf of Mexico, sizable portions of eastern and southern Mexico,
northwestern Central America, and extending well off the coast of southern
Mexico and northwest Central America over the tropical eastern Pacific.
BLOWING DUST:
Texas/Northern Mexico…
A broad area of generally thin density blowing dust kicked up by strong
northerly and northwesterly winds yesterday and continuing this morning
was seen spreading to the south and southeast over western, central, and
south central Texas. Additional blowing dust is likely present farther
to the south and east but widespread cloud cover prevented additional
information from satellite imagery. Within this larger area of thinner
density dust was a fresh batch of moderately dense to perhaps locally
thick dust which originated from sources between Midland and the Big
Bend region and spread quickly to the south reaching and crossing the
Rio Grande into northern Mexico between the Davis Mountains and the
Edwards Plateau.
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