DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1725Z February 29, 2024
SMOKE: Central U.S.… An area of thin density remnant smoke attributed to The Smokehouse Creek Fire that began on February 26 in the northeastern Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma was observed this morning over Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. This thin density smoke continued its movement northeast toward Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Cloud cover over the northeastern part of Texas and western Oklahoma obscured the view of any additional smoke that may have been seen due to the wildfires and brush fires in the area. Gulf States/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba… Areas of light density smoke were seen off the southern Cuba coast this morning. The smoke was generally moving southwest toward Central America. Recent rounds of seasonal burning throughout Cuba has also produced areas of light density smoke in the Gulf of Mexico. AEROSOL/SMOKE… Gulf of Mexico/Southern Bay of Campeche/Southern/Eastern Mexico/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico… An area of light to moderate density aerosol from a composite of smoke due to agricultural burning and industrial sources was noted over a large portion of the Gulf of Mexico, the Southern Bay of Campeche, the southern coasts of Mexico, northwest central America and the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Mexico. An area of thin density smoke was also noted emanating from a number of oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche was visible blowing towards the northwest into the Gulf of Mexico. Willkens 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