DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z March 21, 2022
SMOKE: Central and South Central U.S. including Arkansas, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Western Illinois, Iowa, and Western Louisiana... Widespread agricultural burning along with seasonal fire activity and several wildfires were observed this evening. Agricultural burning was observed over a large portion of the central and south central U.S. including Arkansas, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Western Illinois, Iowa, and Western Louisiana. The widespread agricultural burning activity was responsible for large regions of light to moderate density smoke observed over the region. Moderate to thick density smoke was observed from fire activity in Western Louisiana and Western/Northern Arkansas which was seen progressing northward this evening. Eastern and North Central Texas... Seasonal fire activity and wildfire complex activity was observed in parts of Eastern Texas to the north of Houston and in North Central Texas to the west of Dallas-Fort Worth. Moderate to thick density smoke was observed from the Eastland Complex wildfire complex along with several other fires in the region with smoke progressing northward this evening. Southeastern U.S and Western Atlantic including most of South Carolina and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi... Widespread agricultural burning and seasonal fire activity was observed over parts of the Southeastern U.S. A large region of light density smoke was observed from the fire activity over most of South Carolina with smoke progressing southeastward towards and offshore over the Western Atlantic Ocean. Moderate to thick density smoke was observed from a fire in Southwestern Mississippi. Light to moderate density smoke was observed from a fire activity in Eastern Alabama, Southwestern Georgia, and over parts of Florida this evening. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern Texas, Florida, Cuba, Gulf of Mexico, Northwest Caribbean Sea, Bahamas, Western Atlantic Ocean, Southern and Eastern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well south of Mexico and Central America... The combination of light to moderate density smoke from widespread seasonal fire activity over parts of the U.S, Mexico, and Central America along with a mix of aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico was observed this evening. Smoke and aerosols were observed over a broad region including parts of the coastal southeastern U.S, the Gulf of Mexico, the northwestern Caribbean Sea, parts of the Bahamas, parts of the Western Atlantic Ocean, southern and all of eastern Mexico, Central America, and extending well offshore south and southwest over the Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of Mexico and Central America this evening. DUST: Western/Northwestern Texas, Southeastern New Mexico, and Northern/Northwestern Mexico... A region of moderate to thick density blowing dust ahead of a weather system was observed over parts of Western/Northwestern Texas and Southeastern New Mexico progressing northward towards Oklahoma this evening. Blowing dust was also observed over parts of Northwestern Mexico progressing eastward towards West Texas this evening. Sambucci 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