DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z February 25, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Caribbean Sea/Cuba/Pacific South of Southern Mexico and Northwestern Central America… A huge mass of primarily thin density smoke/aerosol was again seen this morning over much of the same area recently impacted over the past number of days. The northern edge of the smoke/aerosol mix stretched from far southern Texas eastward across the U.S. Gulf Coast region and offshore of the southeastern U.S. over the Atlantic just north of the Bahamas. Cloud cover farther north and inland over the south central and southeastern U.S. though did prevent information through satellite imagery on the northern extent of the smoke/aerosol mix. In addition, the smoke/aerosol mix also covered the Gulf of Mexico, eastern and southern Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Pacific south of the southern coast of Mexico and northwestern Central America, the western part of the Caribbean Sea, and Cuba. For the smoke part of the mix, smoke from seasonal fires and a few wildfires across Cuba spread to the west over the Caribbean Sea and eventually merged with smoke from seasonal fire activity across Mexico and Central America which was generally moving to the north. The resultant mix then moved over the Gulf of Mexico and then to the northeast across a portion of the southeastern U.S. where it merged with smoke from some fire activity across the southeastern U.S. For the aerosol component of the mix, aerosols from industrial activity primarily in Cuba, Mexico, and Central America were believed to be transported along with the smoke from these regions. A few patches of embedded moderately dense smoke/aerosol mix were also visible this morning along and off the coast of southeastern Mexico and northwestern Central America, over the Bay of Campeche and far western Gulf of Mexico, over portions of Cuba and the Caribbean to the south and southwest of Cuba, and along and off the west coast of Florida over the far eastern Gulf of Mexico. 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