DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z March 24, 2024
SMOKE: Southeastern CONUS… Some light smoke, presumably from agricultural burning across the central CONUS yesterday, was seen moving southwestward across Georgia and the Florida Panhandle offshore across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico Ohio Valley/Northern Appalachians… Another area of light smoke was detected from western Pennsylvania into eastern Kentucky and far western Virginia. This area of light smoke is also likely a result of remnant smoke from agricultural burning across the central CONUS. Central CONUS… While no smoke was directly observed, widespread broken cloud cover was observed from Texas northward and could be obscuring burning and smoke production across the Great Plains this morning. BLOWING DUST: Northern Mexico/Texas/New Mexico… The same system bringing cloudiness to the central CONUS is also kicking up dust from sources across the Mexican State of Chihuahua, western Texas, and southeastern New Mexico. The dust was being transported east-northeastward into North Texas and eastern Chihuahua. AEROSOL/SMOKE: South Texas/Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/West Caribbean Sea/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico/Central America… An expansive region of mixed aerosol with a majority composition of smoke was seen blanketing an area from the western Gulf of Mexico to Central America, the Tropical Pacific, the southern coast of Mexico, and portions of the western Caribbean Sea. The main source of smoke here is widespread agricultural burning across Central America and southern Mexico. Smoke is being drawn in multiple directions as well with smoke being shunted southward from the eastern Gulf of Mexico and drawn northeastward ahead of a cold front...while smoke is drawn north-northwestward across the western Gulf of Mexico, drawn west-northwestward along the southern coast of Mexico, shunted southeastward across the Pacific Ocean, and remaining somewhat stagnant off the Pacific Coast of Central America. Hosley 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