DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z April 23, 2023
SMOKE: CONUS… Due to significant cloud cover over most of CONUS, with the exception of the SE corner, any smoke in this area was not visible in satellite imagery. There were fires in central and southern Georgia with varying smoke density that moved towards the south-southeast. There were also two fires in Florida’s panhandle emitting light to medium density smoke plumes towards the south over the Gulf of Mexico. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Central Texas/Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… Significant and widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America resulted in a very large area of primarily light to moderate density smoke which covered much of southern and eastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Northwestern Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, southern and west-central Texas, and some of the southeastern U.S. The thickest smoke appeared over Northwestern Central America, Southeastern Mexico and the Bay of Campeche. Although most of what is seen in satellite imagery was believed to be smoke, some aerosols from industrial activity primarily from Mexico and Central America may be contributing. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Nebraska and Kansas border… An area of unknown mainly thin density aerosol was visible over southern Nebraska and northern Kansas this evening before cloud cover prevented detection in satellite imagery. While it is not known for certain, it is very possible that this aerosol is dust which originated from major dust storms in the desert areas of Asia a number of days ago and has been transported aloft over a significant distance across the Pacific and over Canada and the U.S. Rodriguez 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