DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z January 29, 2023
SMOKE: Florida/Atlantic East of Florida and North of the Bahamas… An stripe of remnant thin density smoke, possibly from yesterday’s round of seasonal fire activity in southern Florida, was visible this morning off the southeast coast of Florida over the Atlantic extending to just north of the northern Bahamas. In addition, a number of new thin density to very localized moderate density smoke plumes from agricultural fires around Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida were visible moving off quickly to the northwest. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southeastern Texas and Southern Louisiana/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 Central America and seasonal fire activity also scattered in those regions, was visible today covering parts of eastern and southern Mexico, some of northwestern Central America, and extending south of those areas well out over the Pacific. The thin density smoke/aerosol mixture also stretched to the north over much of the Gulf of Mexico reaching the coast of Texas and southern Louisiana. Smoke from widespread daily seasonal fires in Cuba likely spread to the west and northwest over the Yucatan Peninsula and south central Gulf of Mexico where it eventually merged with the smoke/aerosol emanating from Mexico and Central America. Plumes from the oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche were also seen moving off to the northwest this morning. Within this huge mass of thin density smoke/aerosol was a band of moderately dense smoke/aerosol mixture extending from far southeastern Mexico southward over the Gulf of Tehuantepec and a relatively small part of the Pacific Ocean south of the southeastern coast of Mexico. 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