DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z March 23, 2024
SMOKE: Central/Eastern United States… Heavy seasonal burning was observed in the Midwest from Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska continuing northeast into central Iowa, then continuing east along the Great Lakes region. Heavy cloud coverage over this area made it difficult to detect smoke in satellite imagery this evening. Mid-Atlantic United States… The large wildfire in Northern Virginia and West Virginia, specifically in Shenandoah National Park, continued burning but due to a large amount of cloud cover in this region detecting smoke plumes was difficult this evening. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean Sea/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico/Central America... A large area of predominantly light density smoke originating from widespread fire activity in Central America, mixed with aerosol from a composite of volcanic emissions in Mexico and industrial sources was observed over a significant portion of the Gulf of Mexico, extending southeast towards Cuba and the Caribbean sea. This composite of smoke and aerosol was also seen covering areas of Central America. 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