DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z March 11, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Central and Western Caribbean Sea/Hispaniola/Jamaica/Cuba/Southern, Central, and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean Well South of Mexico and Central America… A sprawling mass of what is believed to be a combination of smoke from daily ongoing seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and portions of the south central and southeastern U.S. along with aerosols from industrial activity primarily from Mexico, Central America, and Cuba was seen again this morning over the same general area. The smoke/aerosol mix was noted over a portion of the south central and southeastern U.S. and extending offshore of Florida over the Atlantic and northern Bahamas. The smoke/aerosol mix also covered the Gulf of Mexico, the central and western part of the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, southern, central, and eastern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Within this enormous mass of generally thin density smoke/aerosol mix were patches of moderate to thick density smoke over central and eastern Cuba which were associated with the seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires burning there. More areas of moderate to thick density smoke were visible along and just off the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the Bay of Campeche, eastern and southeastern Mexico, and off the southeastern coast of Mexico over the Pacific Ocean. The smoke along and off the central U.S. Gulf Coast region was believed to be from daily rounds of seasonal fire activity in the south central and southeastern U.S. while the thicker smoke farther south over the Bay of Campeche, eastern and southeastern Mexico, and the Pacific south of Mexico was likely from ongoing daily seasonal fire activity primarily in eastern and southern 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