DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 8, 2023
SMOKE: Southeastern CONUS/OH Valley/Central and Southern Plains/Lower-Mid MS Valley… Widespread agricultural burning continues to be observed from New Jersey to Missouri to Texas and Florida. Although the presence of cloud cover was preventing the analysis of smoke across Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, varying density smoke was observed being emitted by numerous burns throughout the rest of the aforementioned area. Smoke was generally moving south across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, while smoke was moving southeast across the Mid-Atlantic, Carolinas, and Georgia and smoke across Alabama and Mississippi was moving southwest with smoke across Arkansas moving west. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Hispaniola/Cuba/Jamaica/Caribbean Sea/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… The enormous mass of a mixture of smoke from significant seasonal fire activity and aerosol from gas flaring activity was seen encompassing an area from the Atlantic Ocean off the Carolina Coast to the tropical Pacific. The seasonal fire activity across the southeastern CONUS yesterday was likely the largest contributor to the portions of the larger layer across the northern Gulf of Mexico, CONUS, and into the Atlantic, while activity across the NW Caribbean was contributing to portions across the western Caribbean and into the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Central America, where more seasonal fire activity is contributing. Another persistent feature of this layer is the higher density of the layer across the western Gulf Of Mexico, with gas flaring and a high density area of seasonal fire activity across eastern Mexico was seen. -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