DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1615Z March 17, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOLS: Atlantic Ocean/Southeast US Coast including all of Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Southern Mexico/Northern Central America/Pacific Ocean (off Mexico/Central America coast).. A large area of mainly thin density smoke/haze from wild/agricultural fires and industrial activity in Mexico and Central America was seen stretching from the Pacific Ocean (off the Mexico/Central America coast) across southern and eastern Mexico and northern Central America eastward across most of the Gulf of Mexico, across Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean. Pockets of moderately dense smoke is seen along coastal regions of eastern Mexico and into the western Gulf of Mexico. Another moderately dense patch can be seen over the southern Gulf of Mexico region. The regions of moderately dense smoke have combined with areas of industrial aerosols. The smoke in the Atlantic Ocean and across Florida is combination of smoke from the fires burning in the Mexico/Central America region and agricultural fires that burned across the Mississippi Valley and Southeast US over the last few days. Today, the southern US and southeast US up to the Mid-Atlantic are cloud covered so smoke across this region is difficult to detect. JK 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