Friday December 30, 2022

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z December 31, 2022

SMOKE:
Cuba/Florida Strait/Gulf of Mexico…
A relatively long smoke plume likely remnant from fires in northern Cuba
yesterday was observed moving westward from just off the northern coast
of Cuba extending northwestward. Isolated active smoke plumes were also
observed across the island, with most smoke moving between northward
and westward.

Gulf of California…
What is likely remnant smoke was observed traveling southeastward across
the Gulf of California. This smoke would likely have been produced from
fire activity over northwestern Mexico late yesterday.

Elsewhere (mainly central and Eastern CONUS)…
Although widespread fire activity was noted from the southeast into the
Mid-Atlantic...along with across the Plains states...very little smoke
was analyzed. This is likely due to the presence of scattered cloud
cover over portions of these areas coupled with snowpack from Nebraska
and Colorado northward that made analysis of smoke difficult.

SMOKE/AEROSOLS:
Pacific Ocean/southwestern Mexico/Guatemalan Coast/Gulf of Mexico/
Bay of Campeche…
The persistent area of smoke and aerosol mixture was observed today
extending from the coasts of far southern Sonora, Nayarit, Jalisco,
Colima, and far western Michoacan west-southwestward off the coast between
1800 and 2000 miles. Another area of smoke and aerosol was seen extending
250 miles south-southwest off the Guatemalan coast. A third area was seen
across the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and western Bay of Campeche that
was obscured by clouds but observed through breaks in the cloud cover.

Hosley


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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.