DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z March 24, 2023
SMOKE: Southeast CONUS… Agricultural burning was observed producing scattered light to moderate smoke plumes from eastern Georgia and into the Carolinas. In these locations, smoke was moving off toward the northeast. Another, more concentrated area of fire activity and light smoke production was observed across southern Florida, where smoke was moving northward across Lake Okeechobee. Aside from the individual smoke plumes observed today, remnant smoke from yesterday’s fire activity was seen moving northeastward to east-northeastward across much of the southeastern CONUS. Hispaniola… An area of light to perhaps moderate smoke was seen extending west-southwestward from the island of Hispaniola. SMOKE/AEROSOL… Southern Plains/Gulf of Mexico/southern and eastern Mexico/tropical Pacific/Guatemala/Cuba… A considerable layer of light to moderate smoke was seen blanketing an area from eastern Texas and Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, and the tropical Pacific Ocean. The thickest portions of this layer exist across the western Gulf of Mexico and the eastern coastal plain of Mexico into eastern Texas and Louisiana...as well as extending off the west-southwest from Guatemala. The sources of the remnant smoke/aerosol are agricultural burning across Cuba, Central America, and the lower elevations of Mexico coupled with gas flaring activity in the Bay of Campeche. Hosley 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