DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z February 15, 2023
Corrected and re-sent to include the portion of blowing dust in New Mexico. SMOKE: Southeastern CONUS… Widespread agricultural burning was noted mainly across Florida, Georgia and Alabama with a somewhat lesser density seen across the Carolinas. Smoke from this activity was generally light with a couple producing moderate smoke. This smoke moving northwestward across the Florida Peninsula to northward across northern Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. It is probable that further smoke production was present across northern and central Alabama, northern Georgia, and the Carolinas with scattered to broken high cirrus cloud cover impeding the ability to analyze smoke across those locations. Mid-Atlantic/Northeastern CONUS… A higher density of agricultural burning was noted across Virginia today with increased fire activity noted up into Pennsylvania and the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. A smoke producing fire was also noted near the border of Connecticut and Massachusetts around the southward-intruding notch of Massachusetts into Connecticut. The main area of observed smoke production was across Pennsylvania into New Jersey, with half a dozen fires observed producing light to, at times, moderate smoke that was moving off toward the east. Smoke from the fire in New England was moving east-southeast. Thickening cirrus cloud cover was observed as the day progressed across Virginia and Maryland, which limited the ability to analyze any smoke over those states. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Western Gulf of Mexico, Eastern and Southern Mexico, Northwestern Central America and the Tropical Eastern Pacific…. A large area of light aerosol containing a mix of smoke from fire and gas flaring activity, aerosol from industrial area and perhaps a little dust was observed across an area extending from the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico into the southern Mississippi Valley ahead of a front associated with a cyclone moving through the central CONUS. Some of this mixture was also noted over the Gulf of Tehuantepec and extending from the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca out into the tropical Pacific. The thickest aerosol was over the western and northern Gulf of Mexico and the coastlines extending into the Mississippi Valley. California’s Central Valley… Likely a mix of smoke from agricultural burning in the central portions of the Central Valley, a little bit of dust, marine aerosol, and industrial aerosol was observed across the southern and east-central portions of California’s Central Valley. Some light smoke plumes are barely seen among the aerosol layer, which is moving south-southeastward. UNKNOWN MARINE AEROSOL: Offshore of central & southern California… Aerosol of uncertain nature was observed moving south-southeast off the coast of California this afternoon and evening. Possible sources are exhausting of the smoke/aerosol layer from the central valley yesterday and dust lofted by the cyclone over the western CONUS, but uncertainty remains high in the origin of this aerosol layer. BLOWING DUST: Southern/Central Plains… A cyclone moving through the southern and central plains was observed transporting lofted dust from the western Central Plains (eastern CO and western KS, possibly from as far north as NE) southward and southeastward around the cyclone while also translating eastward with the motion of the cyclone across north TX and OK while likely reaching into far southeastern KS and into southeastern MO and northeastern AR. The thickest dust was observed moving across the OK and north TX panhandles southeast then east-southeast into and across OK. Another area of blowing dust was also observed across central NM, likely picked up from White Sands. Desert Southwest… A second storm across the Four Corners region was observed kicking up and transporting dust across southern California, far southern Nevada, and western Arizona. It is likely some blowing dust was present across southern Utah as well Dust across southern California was seen moving east-northeastward, with dust most prominently observed moving across the Salton Sea and dry lake beds near Edwards AFB. Dust was also being transported across far southern Nevada and western Arizona 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