DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0055Z January 12, 2023
SMOKE: Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast Coast… A batch of leftover mainly thin density smoke attributed to recent rounds of primarily seasonal fire activity was seen off the southeastern U.S. coast near Georgia and south off the eastern coast of Florida. The southeastern U.S. coast had numerous fires detected but became cloud covered by this evening. Pacific Northwest... A large number of wildfires and seasonal/prescribed type fire activity was observed throughout British Columbia and Alberta. Some light to moderate smoke plumes were observed in Alberta moving generally east but snow in the background and periodical cloud covered precluding smoke analysis in this area. Northern Mexico: In northern Mexico seasonal burning and wildfires were seen releasing light to moderate smoke in Chihuahua. The smoke was moving northeast within Chihuahua. Cuba/Caribbean... Light to moderate density smoke from recent rounds of seasonal burning throughout Cuba and extending southwest into the surrounding Caribbean. SMOKE/AEROSOL: U.S. Central and Western Gulf Coast Region/Northern and Western Gulf of Mexico/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern Mexico and Northwest Central America… A huge area of primarily thin density aerosol, composed in part by industrial activities in Mexico and seasonal fire activity also in Mexico, was visible today covering a good portion of eastern and southern Mexico, some of northwestern Central America, and extending south of those areas well out over the Pacific. A patch of moderate density smoke/aerosol mixture was present over a portion of the coast of southern Mexico and extending to the south over the Pacific. The thin density smoke/aerosol mixture also stretched to the north over the western and northern Gulf of Mexico and inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region from Texas to Mississippi. Cloud cover farther inland over the U.S. Gulf Coast region limited additional information on the extent of the smoke/aerosol. DUST: Texas/New Mexico/Oklahoma/Kansas A region of light to even thick blowing dust was seen moving east over northern Texas, eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma, southern Kansas and possible surrounding areas but cloud cover prevented further detection. Heavier blowing dust was seen over the Texan and Oklahoman panhandles and southern Kansas. Eglin 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