DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 28, 2022
SMOKE: Central, South Central, and Southeastern U.S/Northern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic off the Southeast U.S. Coast… A sprawling area of mainly thin density smoke attributed primarily to ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity mainly occurring in the central and southeastern U.S. along with a few wildfires was seen this morning covering the area from the Plains eastward to the Ohio and Tennessee Valley regions and the Southeast. The smoke also extended well to the east off the southeast U.S. coast over the Atlantic and to the south over the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is possible that smoke from wildfires in New Mexico and from the ongoing widespread seasonal burning in Mexico may be contributing to the area of smoke seen over portions of the Central and Southern Plains. Southwestern U.S… The Hermits Peak and Cerro Pelado Fires in north central New Mexico were emitting narrow moderate to locally thick smoke plumes this morning which fanned out and thinned out in density as they moved off to the east. Leftover thinner density smoke from these fires likely extended out over the Central and Southern Plains merging with smoke from seasonal fire activity in these regions as well as smoke spreading northward from ongoing widespread seasonal burning in Mexico. Farther to the west, a relatively narrow thin density smoke plume from the Crooks Fire in central Arizona south of Prescott spread to the north-northeast this morning over central and north central Arizona. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Eastern and Southern Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico.. An area of primarily thin to moderate density smoke from seasonal fires in Mexico along with other atmospheric pollutants including aerosols from oil and gas flaring and other industries in the region was observed this morning over southern and eastern Mexico and extending well to the south of the southern coast of Mexico over the Pacific. The relatively larger area of moderate density smoke was located over southern Mexico and along and off the coast of southern Mexico. UNKNOWN AEROSOL/DUST: South Central and Southeastern Canada/Great Lakes Region/Northeastern U.S… A thin density aerosol was visible this morning spreading to the southeast across portions of Ontario and Quebec provinces, the Great Lakes Region, and the northeastern U.S. This aerosol may be long range dust transport from Asia but also may be partly composed of smoke from recent widespread seasonal fire activity farther to the south across the north central and central U.S. Western Nevada/Northern and Central California/Pacific off the Central California Coast… An area of thin density aerosol was visible moving to the southeast over western Nevada, northern and central California, and off the coast of central California. It is likely that this aerosol is composed mainly of dust but it wasn’t known if the dust was from sources in southern Oregon,northern California, and western Nevada, or if the dust was long range transport 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