DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z February 15, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Hispaniola/Caribbean Sea/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… A sprawling mass of a combination of smoke from seasonal fire activity occurring in portions of Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the South Central and Southeastern U.S. along with aerosols from industrial sources mainly in Cuba, Hispaniola, Mexico, and Central America was seen this morning over a very large region. The smoke/aerosol from Mexico and Northwestern Central America was visible well off the coast of southern Mexico and Central America over the Pacific and across southern and eastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and much of the Gulf of Mexico where it eventually merged with the smoke/aerosols emanating from Cuba and Hispaniola which were spreading to the west, northwest, and north over the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. The combined smoke/aerosols from these multiple source regions moved from the Gulf of Mexico to the northeast over the U.S. Gulf Coast region and the southeastern U.S. and offshore of the southeastern U.S. over the Atlantic. BLOWING DUST: Northeastern U.S./Ohio Valley/Middle Mississippi Valley/South Central U.S… A large swath of what is likely primarily remnant thin density blowing dust which originated from a number of locations from eastern Colorado and western Kansas southward to southern and southeastern New Mexico, western Texas, and northern Mexico was seen this morning in a relatively cloud free area stretching from central Texas to the northeast across the Middle Mississippi Valley region and Ohio Valley region to possibly as far northeast as the interior of the northeastern U.S. Northern Mexico/Southeastern New Mexico/Western Texas… A number of new plumes of moderately dense to locally thick blowing dust were visible this morning spreading quickly to the northeast from a number of sources mainly in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. The dust moved over southeastern New Mexico and western Texas including El Paso. 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