DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0153Z February 23, 2024
SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern U.S./Central Plains/Great Lakes Region… A large area of light to moderate smoke was observed today across Great Lakes region extending southwestward to Texas, 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 moderate plumes of smoke were seen in Florida and Georgia. Southern/Northern Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico ... Light density smoke from recent rounds of seasonal burning throughout southern Cuba was extending southwest into the Caribbean Sea. Additionally seasonal burning in northern Cuba was releasing light density smoke north onto the Gulf of Mexico. Honduras: Heavy seasonal fires in northeastern Honduras were responsible for a light to moderate area of smoke moving south into northeastern Nicaragua. AEROSOL/SMOKE… Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Central America/Northwest Central America/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico… Light to moderate density smoke was observed emanating from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the day. An area of mostly moderate density aerosol was noted over the western portion of the Gulf of Mexico and eastern/southern Mexico. An area of light-density aerosol was noted over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. The aerosols are likely the product of urban and volcanic emissions along the southern Mexican coastline with some contribution from scattered fire activity seen across southwestern Mexico and northwestern Central America over the last few days. 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. The moderate edge of Saharan Dust was approximately 600 miles northwest of the Lesser Antilles. Eglin 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