DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z April 21, 2023
SMOKE: South-Central US/Eastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean… Seasonal/Agricultural burning and some wildfires are responsible for a large area of mostly light to moderate density smoke located over a portions of the eastern US from Florida north through the eastern portions of the Mississippi Valley, southeast and into the Mid-Atlantic and farther north and reaching almost to Maine. Smoke spreads into the Atlantic Ocean and up/down the coastline. Smoke may spread farther west into other parts of the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys, but cloud cover has obscured the view. A large fire in eastern North Carolina is burning producing moderately dense to dense smoke toward the north with residual smoke from it yesterday lingering from eastern sections of the state east into the Atlantic. Numerous fires are burning across the southeast, Mid-Atlantic and central US region producing most light smoke emissions. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern Texas/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/western Caribbean Sea/Northwestern Central America/Eastern Half of Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… Significant and widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America with aerosols from industrial activities originating in Mexico and northwestern Central America resulted in a very large area of primarily light to moderate density smoke which covered much of southern/central Mexico south of Texas, western Cuba, northwestern Central America, the Pacific off the coast of southern Mexico and northwestern Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and southern Texas. Moderate density areas of smoke were seen over southern/eastern Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, northwestern Central America, most of the Gulf of Mexico. JK 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