DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z March 12, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Central and Western Caribbean Sea/Hispaniola/Jamaica/Cuba/Southern, Central, and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean Well South of Mexico and Central America… A sprawling mass of what is believed to be a combination of smoke from daily ongoing seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and portions of the south central and southeastern U.S. along with aerosols from industrial activity primarily from Mexico, Central America, and Cuba was seen again this morning over the same general area which has been impacted for many days. The smoke/aerosol mix was noted over a portion of the south central and southeastern U.S. and extending offshore of Florida over the Atlantic. It also covered the Gulf of Mexico, the central and western part of the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, southern, central, and eastern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Within this enormous mass of a generally thin density smoke/aerosol mix were patches of what was believed to be mainly moderate to thick density smoke. One of these areas of thicker smoke, associated with numerous seasonal fires and a few wildfires in Cuba, was seen over much of Cuba and extending to the north of there across some of the Bahamas and a portion of southern Florida. More areas of moderate to thick density smoke were visible over the Bay of Campeche, eastern and southern Mexico, the Pacific south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America, and the far western Caribbean between Honduras and the Yucatan Peninsula. This smoke was likely from significant seasonal fire activity occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America. Finally, a swath of moderate density smoke was noted moving to the southeast over southern Texas which was thought to be attributed to recent seasonal fire activity in the south central U.S. 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