Sunday, February 26, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z February 26, 2023

SMOKE/AEROSOL:
South Central and Southeastern United States, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic
Ocean off the Southeastern United States Coast, Eastern and Southern
Mexico, Northwestern Central America, Central and Western Caribbean
Sea, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Pacific South of Southern Mexico and
Northwestern Central America…
The sprawling area of primarily thin density smoke/aerosol was again
seen over much of the same area recently impacted over the past number of
days. The northern edge of the smoke/aerosol mix stretched from southern
Texas eastward across the United States Gulf Coast region and extended
well offshore of the southeastern United States over the Atlantic. 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
central and western part of the Caribbean Sea, most of Cuba, and part
of Hispaniola.

For the smoke part of the mix, smoke from seasonal fires and a few
wildfires across Cuba and Hispaniola 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 United States where it merged with
smoke from some fire activity across the southeastern United States.

For the aerosol component of the mix, aerosols from industrial activity
primarily in Mexico, Central America, and Cuba were believed to be
transported along with the smoke from these regions.

A few patches of embedded moderately dense smoke/aerosol mix were seen
south of the Florida panhandle over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico,
along and off the southwestern coast of Florida over the eastern Gulf
of Mexico, and along and off the southeastern coast of Mexico over the
Gulf of Tehuantepec and the Pacific south of there. An area of moderate
to thick density smoke from wildfires in western Cuba spread to the west
and southwest and over the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Jamaica.

DUST:
New Mexico/Northern Mexico…
Strong southwesterly winds ahead of a storm system were beginning to kick
up swaths of blowing dust this morning which were emanating from sources
in southwestern New Mexico and the northern part of the Mexican state
of Chihuahua in far north central Mexico with the dust moving quickly
to the northeast.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.