DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0158Z March 18, 2022
SMOKE: Central U.S. Extending to the Great Lakes Region, and Mid-Atlantic... A large number of fires were actively burning across much of the central U.S., and in particular across northeastern Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and southern Illinois where individual plumes of moderate concentration with some heavier areas of smoke near the sources could be seen dispersing toward the north. A large area consisting of light density smoke stretched from central Texas to the Great Lakes region in the north and NY/Pennsylvania area in the northeast, This smoke also extends off of the southeast coast and may include some remnant smoke. California... Seasonal burning activity in northern California was was responsible for numerous light to moderate density smoke plumbs that were moving north as evening approached. Cuba... Mostly light density smoke from recent rounds of seasonal burning in Cuba was seen this morning over most of Cuba and extending to the north of the island toward the Florida Keys and to the south of the island over the nearby Caribbean. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean off South of Mexico and Central America... A large area of mostly light density smoke with embedded smaller patches of moderate density smoke mixed with aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico and Central America was observed over much of the Gulf of Mexico, central, eastern, and southern Mexico, a portion of Central America, and extending well south of the southern Mexico and Central America coastline over the Pacific Ocean. The embedded moderate areas of smoke/aerosol were seen over eastern Mexico and the western part of the Bay of Campeche, and along a portion of the southern coastal areas of Mexico and Guatemala, and extending south of there over the Pacific. BLOWING DUST: New Mexico/Northern Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma... An area of at least moderate density blowing dust with heavier dust on the leading edges was observed moving south-southeast from New Mexico, northern Mexico, and northern/western Texas as evening approached. Some dust could be seen through cloud cover in southern Oklahoma as well. This dust could stretch further east and north 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