DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z January 30, 2023
SMOKE: Florida... A few light density smoke plumes from agricultural burning south of Lake Okeechobee were visible moving off quickly to the west-northwest. Cuba... Widespread burning was observed this afternoon across the entire island with light smoke spreading westward over coastal areas to the south and west and extending further south over a large area of the central Caribbean Sea. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southeastern Texas and Southern Louisiana/Gulf of Mexico/Eastern and Southern Mexico/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 scattered fire activity in those regions, remained visible this afternoon 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 over the central and western 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. Nguyen 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