DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0117Z February 28, 2022
SMOKE: Florida/Georgia/Alabama/Eastern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast U.S. Coast... Seasonal fire activity mostly in Florida and Georgia was seen today creating a large area of light density smoke which probably has contributions from recent significant residual smoke. The smoke stretched over a portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and extending inland over much of Florida, far southeastern Alabama, southern Georgia, and southern south Carolina. The smoke then also extended offshore of the southeastern U.S. coast over the Atlantic Ocean. Cloud cover along the northern periphery of this area of smoke prevented additional information on the extent of the smoke in that region from satellite imagery. One area of at least moderate density smoke was observed moving east in northern Florida. Central US... Seasonal fire activity mostly in central Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, and Arkansas were responsible for numerous mostly light to moderate smoke plumbs that were generally moving east throughout the area as evening approached. Hispaniola/Caribbean Sea... Scattered wildfire activity continues to be observed in the Southwestern Dominican Republic emitting light density smoke that was seen progressing southwestward offshore from Hispaniola over the Caribbean Sea. Cuba: Seasonal burning was responsible for numerous light to moderate density smoke plumbs throughout Cuba creating areas of light smoke over the Caribbean moving northwest of Cuba and south of the island. Some moderate density smoke plums were observed in southern Cuba. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America... The usual combination of thin to moderate density smoke from seasonal fires in Mexico and Central America and other atmospheric pollutants including aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industries in the region was visible this morning over most of the Bay of Campeche, the southern and western Gulf of Mexico, portions of southern, central, and eastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and the Pacific Ocean extending well off the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Within the larger mass of thin density smoke/aerosol were a large area of moderate density smoke/aerosol which were more prevalent over southern Mexico and extending to the south off the coast of southern Mexico over the Pacific Ocean. Eglin 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov