DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2320Z January 2, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOLS: Southern Florida… Several light density smoke plumes from agricultural burning were seen just south of Lake Okeechobee. The smoke dispersed to the west reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Western Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas/Eastern Mexico… A plume consisting of a mix of smoke from seasonal fires and aerosols from gas flaring activity in the Bay of Campeche and other industrial sources across southern Mexico was seen along over much of eastern Mexico, in addition to central and southern Mexico, extending further north into southern Texas and also to the south over the Pacific Ocean off the the coast of southern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. DUST: Western Texas... A large blowing dust event was seen forming off western Texas and moving in the east-southeastward direction towards central Texas. The counties of Howard, Mitchell, Scurry, Nolan and Coke were particularly impacted with moderate-to-thick dust observed across the area. WS 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