DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0156Z February 2, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Northwestern Central America… An expansive area of primarily thin density aerosol from industrial activities in Mexico and Central America and smoke from seasonal fires primarily in Cuba and Mexico was seen throughout the day across most of the Gulf of Mexico, most of Florida, through into the coastal Atlantic off the southeastern U.S. coast, Cuba, the western Caribbean Sea, eastern/Central/southern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and well out over the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico and northwestern Central America. Within the larger mass of thin density smoke/aerosol mixture was embedded patches of moderate density smoke/aerosol mix located over southern Mexico and extending to the south over the Pacific Ocean. Moderate smoke was seen extending southwest off the coast of Cuba and several moderate density plums could be seen through cloud cover throughout Florida. This smoke may extend further into northern Mexico and the U.S such as southern Texas, as well as Gulf of Mexico regions bordering eastern coastal Mexico and southern coastal U.S, however cloud cover precluded further analysis. 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