DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z April 05, 2024
CORRECTED TO ADD SECTION ON BLOWING DUST SMOKE: Central and Southeastern CONUS into the northern Gulf of Mexico… Widespread agricultural burning across the Central Plains was observed overnight and this morning. Remnant smoke emissions from yesterday’s burning activity was observed having reached the Gulf Coast where the smoke layer bifurcates into an east-southeastward moving stream over the northeastern Gulf Coast to south over the north-central Gulf of Mexico. A few active smoke emissions were also observed after sunrise this morning continuing into the early afternoon. The smoke was moving around an area of low pressure with smoke generally moving southeastward over much of the Southeast and Gulf coast states. Florida Peninsula… Scattered to widespread agricultural burning around Lake Okeechobee was observed producing mainly light smoke that was moving southeastward in the wake of a cold frontal passage. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Pacific Ocean/Central America/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Gulf of Mexico/Florida/Northern Caribbean/North Atlantic… An expansive area of aerosol predominately comprised of smoke with some other aerosols was seen blanketing an area extending from the Tropical Pacific and northern South America to Central America, southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Bay of Campeche, the southern Gulf of Mexico, far southern Florida, the northern Caribbean, and the North Atlantic. The main source regions for the smoke are Central America and southern Mexico. The smoke is generally moving northwestward from Central America to the Bay of Campeche and the Yucatan, where some smoke continues moving northwestward along the Coastal Plain of Mexico while the rest is being drawn east-northeastward by a frontal system over the central Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, the Bahamas, and into the North Atlantic eventually moving over Bermuda. BLOWING DUST: Northeastern Arizona/Eastern Utah… Some light blowing dust was observed moving north to north-northeast from the Arizona/Utah border into east-central Utah. Another plume of blowing dust was seen emanating from just northeast of the Mogollon Rim moving north-northeastward. 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