DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z February 22, 2024
SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern U.S./Central Plains/Western Great Lakes… A large area of remnant smoke was observed this morning across Lower Michigan extending southwestward to Kansas, then encompassing much of the southeastern U.S. from eastern Texas to southern Virginia. This smoke extended over the Atlantic Ocean and much of the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous plumes of smoke from new and continuing fires this morning were also observed, particularly in Florida and Georgia. AEROSOL/SMOKE… Southern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean... An area of smoke mixed with aerosols was observed along the Pacific coast and adjacent waters of southern Mexico extending as far south as at least Costa Rica. A number of individual smoke plumes were also observed through the morning within this region. BLOWING DUST… Atlantic Ocean… A considerable amount of Saharan dust was observed over the eastern and central Atlantic to about 50W and as far north as 38N. The southern portion of the dust was slowly drifting westward, while the northern portion was largely caught up in a mid-ocean mid-latitude low. MTC 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