DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z March 18, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOLS: Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Well South of Mexico and Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Far Western Caribbean Sea/Western Cuba/Southern Florida/Bahamas… The very large mass of thin density smoke from ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity primarily occurring in Mexico, Central America, and Cuba, along with aerosols from industrial activity in those regions was visible this morning covering much of southern and eastern Mexico, Central America, the far western Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. The smoke/aerosol mix also extended north of there across the Bay of Campeche and the southern Gulf of Mexico and from there to the east and northeast over western Cuba, southern Florida, some of the Bahamas, and the Atlantic Ocean northeast of the Bahamas. Extensive cloud cover farther to the north over the northern Gulf of Mexico, the south central and southeastern U.S., and along and just off the U.S. east coast prevented additional information on any smoke/aerosol which may be present there. Within the large area of thinner density smoke/aerosol mixture were a couple of embedded moderately dense batches of smoke/aerosol which were attributed more to the seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America. One of those was centered over the Bay of Campeche and extended northward over a portion of the southern Gulf of Mexico. A larger area of moderately dense smoke/aerosol was seen over southern and southeastern Mexico, northern Central America, and a portion of the Pacific south of the southern coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America. AEROSOLS/DUST: Central U.S… Areas of thin density aerosol were seen this morning stretching from western South Dakota and western Nebraska to the southeast across the Central Plains and then to the east over the Middle Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley regions. While it is not certain, it is believed that this aerosol was composed of dust which was transported aloft all the way from the desert regions of Asia. 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