DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z April 24, 2023
SMOKE: Central CONUS… Remnant smoke from dense agricultural burning activity over the past few days within Kansas, Oklahoma and other parts of the Central U.S was observed today over Iowa, Missouri, and parts of southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Gulf of Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… The ongoing 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, and the Gulf of Mexico. The smoke may extend further north into Texas and east across the Florida peninsula, but cloud cover over the southern U.S and along Atlantic ocean off eastern and southeastern U.S prevented further analysis in these regions. The thickest smoke appeared over Northwestern Central America, portions of southeastern Mexico, and some of 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: North Central and Central U.S./Ohio Valley/… An area of unknown mainly thin density aerosol previously noted in yesterday’s analysis was briefly visible again this morning extending across South Dakota and into the Ohio Valley region and over Lake Michigan. This aerosol was noted to have previously extended from southern Northwest Territory. The likely source for this aerosol layer is remnant dust from the dust storms noted earlier this week originating from the Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts, as small contributions from remnant smoke in yesterday’s burning within the central U.S. Nguyen 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