DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z February 20, 2022
SMOKE:
South Central and Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico…
A broad area of remnant thin density smoke attributed to recent rounds
of significant seasonal burning in the south central and southeastern
U.S. was present this morning over much of the Gulf of Mexico and
extending inland across southern and eastern Texas, most of Louisiana,
the central Gulf Coast region, and far southern Florida. It is possible
that especially in the southern portion of this large area of smoke, some
contribution from oil and gas flaring and other industrial pollutants
from Mexico may be occurring. In addition, many newly forming smoke
plumes were visible this morning from seasonal fires in the southeastern
U.S. with the smoke generally moving off to the west.
SMOKE/AEROSOL/DUST:
Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northern Central America/Pacific Ocean South
of Mexico and Central America/Western Caribbean…
The combination of light density smoke from seasonal fires in Mexico
and Central America and contributions from other atmospheric pollutants
including aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industries in
the region was visible this morning across a good portion of southern
and eastern Mexico and northern Central America with the smoke/aerosol
combination also seen extending well to the south of the coast of
southern Mexico and Central America over the Pacific. In addition,
dust was visible emanating from sources in the southeastern part of
the Mexican state of Chiapas and southern Guatemala and spreading to
the south over the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Farther to the north and east,
a swath of what is believed to be primarily leftover thin density smoke
from seasonal fire activity in Cuba was noted moving to the west and
southwest over the western Caribbean and the Yucatan Peninsula.
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