DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 29, 2023
SMOKE: Central U.S… Widespread agricultural burning was observed from southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois into Kansas with slightly more scattered activity across Oklahoma, Texas Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. From this fire activity, light to moderate smoke production was observed. An area of high pressure slowly moving eastward across eastern Kansas, which was causing smoke production across northern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, far northern Missouri, Iowa, far southeastern Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Illinois to move east-northeast to east, while smoke was moving southwest across southeastern Kansas and northern Oklahoma, south across eastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas and western Arkansas, and southeastward across eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and northern Alabama. Southeastern CONUS… An area of widespread cloud cover extending from central and southern Texas along the Gulf Coast and into the Carolinas and much of Florida. This widespread cloud cover is likely obscuring at least some fire activity and smoke production across the region, especially across Texas, Georgia, and the Carolinas, where the Last Resort fire in eastern North Carolina was still detected but any smoke production was masked. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Florida/Atlantic Ocean off the Florida Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America/Central and Western Caribbean Sea/Hispaniola/Jamaica/Cuba... A mixture of thin to moderate density smoke from seasonal fire activity across the Yucatan, the southern half of Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and Hispaniola in addition to aerosols from industrial activity both originating from portions of Mexico and Central America and gas flaring in the Bay of Campeche was seen today blanketing an area from the tropical Eastern Pacific to the northern Caribbean and the Bahamas. The thickest smoke was present across the western Gulf of Mexico, from coast of Guatemala west-southwestward, and off the southwest coast of Mexico. Much of the smoke across the Pacific continues to move southwestward to west-southwestward, while a front over the northern Gulf of Mexico that extends into the Atlantic is helping to shunt some of the smoke southward over the northern Gulf of Mexico and eastward across Florida and out into the Atlantic. Smoke is also moving west-northwestward to northwestward from Hispaniola, Cuba, the Yucatan, and 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