DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z May 20, 2022
SMOKE: Area from New Mexico and the Central and South Central U.S. Eastward to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast/Central ans Western Atlantic Ocean… A very large expanse of primarily thin density smoke was visible this morning stretching from near the wildfires burning in New Mexico to the east across a good portion of the central and south central U.S. to the Mid-Atlantic region and the Southeast. The smoke continued from there offshore to the east reaching the central Atlantic. Moderately dense smoke was seen closer to and just east of the Hermits Peak, Bear Trap, and Black fires in New Mexico with a detached area of moderately density smoke noted from south of Amarillo to Lubbock, Texas. The majority of this huge area of smoke was believed to be mainly from the New Mexico wildfires though some contribution from the ongoing seasonal fires and a few wildfires in Mexico may be occurring especially across the southern portion of this area. SMOKE/AEROSOL: U.S. Gulf Coast States, Mexico, Central America, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific south of Mexico and Central America... A large area of mostly light to moderate density smoke from widespread ongoing seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires mixed with aerosols from oil/gas flaring and other industrial sources in Mexico was observed covering most of Mexico, parts of Central America, roughly the western half of the Gulf of Mexico including the Bay of Campeche, and extending well offshore to the south of Mexico and Central America over the Pacific. The smoke/aerosol was being transported to the north and likely reached inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region and south central U.S. where it mixed with smoke from the New Mexico wildfires. Within the bigger area of thin density smoke was a large region of moderate density smoke which impacted southern and eastern Mexico and northwestern Central America, as well as southern Texas, the Bay of Campeche, western Gulf of Mexico, and off the southern coast of Mexico. A separate smaller patch of moderately dense smoke stretched from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico inland over southeastern and eastern Texas, and southwestern and western Louisiana. The thickest smoke was visible over portions of southern Mexico. BLOWING DUST: Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea… The significant area of Saharan Dust continued to progress slowly to the west across the subtropical and tropical Atlantic and over the eastern and central Caribbean including Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, likely reaching eastern Cuba though cloud cover there made this determination uncertain through satellite imagery. 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