DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0049Z April 22, 2022
SMOKE: Southwestern,South Central, and Central U.S., Southeastern US... The Crooks Fire south of Prescott and especially the Tunnel Fire north of Flagstaff in Arizona were emitting smoke today which spread to the northeast. A larger area of thin density smoke from today's fires and remnant smoke stretched from central Minnesota in the north continuing south through Texas and east through the Gulf states ending in Florida. 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 adding to the sizable area of mainly thin density smoke where it likely became mixed with smoke/aerosol transport spreading northward from Mexico’s significant seasonal burning. Southeastern US... Clusters of fires were observed through cloud cover and they were emitting light to medium smoke plumbs with what appears to be denser smoke but cloud cover precluded further analysis. Some areas where heavier smoke could be present is western Louisiana, southern Georgia and northern Florida. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Texas, U.S. Gulf Coast/Mexico/Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America... A large mass of light to moderate density smoke from seasonal fire activity mixed with aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico was observed covering a large parts of southern and eastern Texas, southern/eastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, the Gulf of Mexico parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast States, and the Pacific Ocean extending well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Moderate density smoke/aerosol covered the western and central Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, portions of southern and eastern Mexico, and south of the coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America extending southward over part of the Pacific. BLOWING DUST: Pacific Ocean, Alaska... What appears to be dense blowing dust from the Gobi Dessert in Asia is caught up in a low pressure system south of the Aleutian Islands and reaches as far north as southern Alaska. Earlier today; 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. 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