DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 8, 2023
SMOKE: Central and North Central U.S./Great Lakes Region… A sizable leftover area of primarily thin density smoke from yesterday’s round of intense seasonal burning in the area roughly extending from Oklahoma to southern Wisconsin was seen this morning stretching from portions of central and eastern Oklahoma northward to southern Minnesota. From there, the smoke extended to the east reaching lower Michigan, Lake Erie, and Ohio. Currently, newly forming smoke plumes were becoming visible with today’s round of seasonal fire activity within the same general area of yesterday’s activity. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Central America/Eastern Half of Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… The persistent large mass of thin to moderate density smoke from widespread significant seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America mixed with aerosols from industrial activity also originating from these areas was seen this morning over a good portion of the eastern half of Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south of southern Mexico and northwestern Central America, and much of the Gulf of Mexico likely extending over at least some of the Florida peninsula. Widespread cloud cover over the northern Gulf of Mexico and the south central and southeastern U.S. from Texas to Georgia and the Carolinas prevented the detection of any smoke which might be present in these locations through satellite imagery. Within the larger mass of thin density smoke were embedded batches of moderate density smoke which were visible over southeastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche and the far southwestern Gulf of Mexico, some of the Pacific south of the southeastern coast of Mexico, and part of northwestern Central America. Farther to the east, patches of primarily thin density smoke were seen emanating from fire activity in Cuba and moving to the west. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Southern and Southeastern Canada/Lake Superior… An area of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible this morning moving to the southeast over central and eastern Ontario, southwestern Quebec, and Lake Superior. It is possible but not definitely known that this aerosol is very long range transport of dust lofted higher up in the atmosphere originating from desert regions in 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