DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 21, 2022
SMOKE: Southwestern,South Central, and Central U.S... The Crooks Fire south of Prescott and especially the Tunnel Fire north of Flagstaff in Arizona were emitting smoke this morning which spread to the northeast. A larger area of leftover thin density smoke from these fires stretched from central Arizona to the northeast over northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah, and much of western Colorado. Moderately dense to locally thick smoke from the Tunnel Fire was located near and to the northeast of this fire confined to north central Arizona. Farther to the east, the Calf Canyon Fire and Hermits Peak Fire east of Santa Fe and the Cooks Peak Fire northeast of there in north central New Mexico combined with the fires in Arizona were responsible for a sizable area of mainly thin density smoke which stretched from eastern New Mexico and eastern Colorado eastward over the Central Plains where it likely became mixed with smoke/aerosol transport spreading northward from Mexico’s significant seasonal burning. Significant cloud cover over the south central U.S. and farther to the east and northeast extending to the Mid-Atlantic region and Northeast limited additional information through satellite imagery on the extent and density of the smoke in these areas. Eastern Carolinas… A stripe of possible leftover thin density smoke likely from seasonal type fire activity in the Carolinas and Southeast was seen this morning moving to the east and northeast across the eastern Carolinas. Cloud cover in this region though did limit additional information on the extent of this possible smoke through satellite imagery. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central U.S./Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America... A broad and expansive region of light, moderate, and several region of embedded thicker density smoke from seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America mixed with aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in that region was observed this morning covering much of southern and eastern Mexico, as well as a large portion of Central America, the Bay of Campeche, the western half of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific extending well off the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. The smaller embedded areas of thick density smoke were visible scattered over over parts of southern and southeastern Mexico and Central America where widespread seasonal burning was occurring. Moderate density smoke also extended from southern and southeastern Mexico and Central America over portions of the Bay of Campeche and along and off the southern coast of Mexico and Central America over the Pacific. DUST: North Central U.S… A thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible in between breaks in the clouds from eastern Wyoming to Wisconsin. It is possible that this may be very long range dust transport aloft from Asia. Southwestern U.S./Northwestern Mexico/Gulf of California/Pacific off the California and Baja Coast… Areas of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition were seen this morning with one stretching from off the southern California coast inland over the Los Angeles and San Diego metro areas to Las Vegas. Others were scattered over Baja and the Gulf of California and over the nearby Pacific. This aerosol may be dust from sources in the region and/or long range dust transport aloft from Asia. 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 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