DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0139Z January 20, 2023
SMOKE: Florida... Scattered fire activity across southern Florida was observed producing light smoke earlier today moving east-southeast from the parent fire activity. By this evening most of the area became cloud covered but one large fire in southern Florida was observed releasing a large amount of moderate smoke initially moving northeast before shifting to the southeast. Pacific Northwest... A large number of wildfires and seasonal/prescribed type fire activity was observed throughout British Columbia and Alberta. A light density smoke plume was observed in British Columbia moving generally east but snow in the background and periodical cloud covered precluding further smoke analysis in this area. Cuba... Light to moderate density smoke from recent rounds of seasonal burning in central Cuba and extending into the surrounding Caribbean. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Central U.S. and Western Gulf Coast Region/Northern and Western Gulf of Mexico/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern Mexico and Northwest Central America… A huge area of primarily thin density aerosol, composed in part by industrial activities in Mexico and seasonal fire activity also in Mexico, was visible today covering a good portion of eastern and southern Mexico, some of northwestern Central America, and extending south of those areas well out over the Pacific. A patch of moderate density smoke/aerosol mixture was present over a portion of the coast of southern Mexico and extending to the south over the Pacific. The thin density smoke/aerosol mixture also stretched to the north over the western and northern Gulf of Mexico and inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region from Texas to Mississippi. Cloud cover farther inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region limited additional information on the extent of the smoke/aerosol. Eglin 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