DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z May 21, 2022
SMOKE: Area from New Mexico and the Central and South Central U.S. eastward and northeastward through much of the Eastern United States and Western Atlantic Ocean… A very large expanse of thin to moderate density smoke was seen stretching from near the wildfires burning in New Mexico to the east and northeast across a good portion of the central and south central United States to the eastern United States. The smoke continued from there offshore to the east reaching the central Atlantic. Moderate and high density smoke was seen closer to the fire activity over New Mexico and also from Illinois southwest to northeastern Texas. The majority of this 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, the western and central Gulf of Mexico 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 larger area of thin density smoke was a region of moderate density smoke that extended from coastal areas along the western Gulf Coast of the United States south through the western Gulf of Mexico through southern Mexico and into the Tropical Pacific Ocean south of 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 Sea. Southwestern United States…. Areas of blowing dust were seen over the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico that were extending northeast to portions of northern New Mexico. Hanna 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