DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 22, 2022
SMOKE: Southwestern and Central U.S… The Crooks Fire south of Prescott and especially the Tunnel Fire north of Flagstaff in Arizona were continuing to emit smoke today which spread to the northeast. The rather narrow plume extending northeast of the Tunnel Fire was locally moderate in density. Cloud cover was spreading east over the region which is likely limiting additional information on the extent of smoke produced from this fire which may be present over northwestern Colorado and Wyoming. 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 were also emitting smoke this morning with with the Cooks Peak Fire producing a moderate smoke plume which extended to the northeast into southeastern Colorado and locally thick smoke closer to the fire. A detached batch of moderate to even thick smoke most likely from the Cooks Peak Fire was seen moving to the northeast this morning across western Kansas and over southwestern and south central Nebraska. Thinner density smoke also extended even farther to the northeast out over the Central Plains though cloud cover over the north central U.S. and Great Lakes region prevented additional information on the extent of any smoke which might be in those areas. South Central and Southeastern U.S./Mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valley Regions/Mid-Atlantic Region… Remnant thin density smoke covered much of the south central and southeastern U.S. with the northward extent visible from the Mid-Mississippi Valley region eastward to the Mid-Atlantic region and along the southern portion of the Northeastern U.S. and offshore of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. This smoke is likely a combination of some smoke spreading eastward from the southwestern U.S. wildfires, smoke being transported northward from widespread significant seasonal fires in Mexico, and smoke from seasonal fires scattered across the southeastern U.S. One embedded relatively small patch of moderate density smoke was seen moving to the northwest over southern Mississippi which may be from a larger fire in the Florida panhandle yesterday. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central U.S./Mexico/Central America/Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America... The large mass of generally light to moderate density smoke from seasonal fire activity occurring in Mexico and Central America mixed with aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industrial sources in the region was observed covering a large part of Mexico with the exception of the northwest portion, northwestern Central America, the Bay of Campeche, the western Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific extending well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. The smoke likely extends up over portions of the south central U.S. where it mixes with smoke from the southwestern U.S. wildfires and southeastern U.S. seasonal fire activity. A few smaller embedded areas of thick density smoke were seen especially over southern and southeastern Mexico with the biggest one along and off the coast of south central Mexico. BLOWING DUST: Pacific Ocean, Alaska... The significant swath of what is likely blowing dust from the Gobi Dessert in Asia continues to be seen spreading to the east across the Pacific just south of the Gulf of Alaska. Southern California/Northwestern Mexico/Gulf of California… Some rather thin density blowing dust was visible this morning moving to the east from southeastern California into western Arizona. Farther to the south, a more significant batch of moderate to even locally thicker blowing dust was seen spreading to the south from far northwestern Mexico over Baja, the Gulf of California, and the nearby Pacific Ocean. 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