DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z April 9, 2023
SMOKE: Central and Eastern U.S./Southeastern Canada… Significant rounds of seasonal burning the past few days across the central U.S., especially in the general area stretching from central and eastern Oklahoma to the northeast over Iowa and southern Wisconsin, were responsible for a large area of mainly thin density smoke extending from portions of the south central U.S. northward to the Central Plains. From there, the smoke extended to the east and northeast over the Great Lakes region, the Ohio Valley, the southern part of the Northeast, and the Mid-Atlantic region. The smoke also had spread up over Ontario and off the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coastal areas passing along and south of Nova Scotia. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern Texas/Southern Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Northwestern Central America/Eastern Half of Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… Ongoing significant and widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America continued resulting in a very large mass of primarily thin to moderate density smoke which blanketed much of southern and eastern Mexico, portions of Central America, the Pacific well off the coast of southern Mexico and northwestern Central America, most of the Gulf of Mexico, southern Florida, and southern Texas. Some aerosols from industrial activities originating in Mexico and Central America may also be mixed in with the smoke. Moderate density areas of smoke were seen over some of southern and southeastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Bay of Campeche, and some of the central and southwestern Gulf of Mexico with a smaller and thicker batch of smoke visible over southeastern Mexico, the southwestern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, and a portion of the Bay of Campeche. Farther to the east, smoke and aerosols from seasonal fire activity industrial activity in Cuba were visible over and around Cuba. 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