DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0134Z March 12, 2022
SMOKE: California... Seasonal burning activity in northern California was was responsible for numerous light to moderate density smoke plumbs that was moving north as evening approached. Honduras: Wildfires in northeastern Honduras were responsible for a mostly moderate smoke plumb moving north-northwest off the coast towards Belize as evening approached. Cuba/Southern Florida… Seasonal burning was responsible for numerous light to moderate density smoke plumbs throughout Cuba creating areas of light smoke over the Caribbean moving north over the Caribbean and southern Florida, and southwest of Cuba and south of the island. Some moderate density smoke plums were observed in southern Cuba. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean Well South of Mexico and Central America… A large mass of remnant thin to moderate density smoke mixed with aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico was visible today over the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast, most of the Gulf of Mexico (Stretching to western Florida), the Bay of Campeche, southern and all of eastern Mexico, Central America, and extending well to the south over the Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Moderately dense smoke/aerosol mixture was seen especially along and off the coast of southeastern Mexico and Guatemala over the Pacific and from southeastern Mexico to over the Bay of Campeche. The smoke over this large area was due to the widespread seasonal burning in Mexico and Central America. Extensive cloud cover over far southern and southeastern Texas, part of eastern Mexico, the western and northern Gulf of Mexico, and inland over the Southeastern U.S. prevented detection of any smoke which may be present there from satellite imagery. BLOWING DUST: Southeastern New Mexico/Northern Mexico/Texas... An area of generally light density blowing dust was observed moving south-southeast from northern Mexico, southeastern New Mexico and western/central Texas as evening approached. This dust could stretch further southeast/east but cloud cover precluded further analysis. 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