DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0030Z March 20, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOLS: U.S. Midwest and Central-Southern Great Plains... Widespread burning activity was observed during this afternoon in particular across Missouri and Illinois, central-northern Arkansas, central-eastern Oklahoma, and central-eastern Kansas with several smoke plumes of predominantly light-to-moderate density visible across the area. The individual plumes were dispersing to the northeast across Oklahoma and Kansas, to the east across Missouri and Illinois, and to the southeast across Arkansas forming a larger clockwise flow. Heavier density smoke plumes could be seen originating from larger fires burning across Boston and Ouachita mountains,, while a few more prominent plumes were also observed over southeastern Texas with the smoke dispersing south towards the Gulf. Central America... A large area of light density smoke from vegetation fires in Central America could be seen over most of that region, extending to the northeast over the Gulf of Honduras and to the west for more than 1,000 miles over the Pacific ocean. WS 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