DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z March 1, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Hispaniola/Cuba/Jamaica/Caribbean Sea/Southern and Eastern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Mexico and Central America… The huge mass of smoke from seasonal fire activity occurring in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the southeastern U.S., a few wildfires especially in Cuba and Hispaniola, along with aerosols from industrial activity mainly in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and Hispaniola, continued to be visible this morning generally impacting the same regions affected in recent days. The smoke/aerosol mix covered a portion of the south central and southeastern U.S., the Atlantic well off the southeastern U.S. nearly reaching Bermuda, the Gulf of Mexico, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, much of the central and western Caribbean Sea, southern and eastern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Embedded areas of moderately dense to even possibly locally thick smoke/aerosol were seen over far southeastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and a portion of the Pacific just off the southern coast of southeastern Mexico and northwestern Central America. The moderate density mix also extended to the north over a portion of the Bay of Campeche and the southern Gulf of Mexico. Farther to the east and northeast, the thin to moderately dense smoke/aerosol mix over Cuba, the Caribbean Sea south of Cuba, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and the Atlantic off the coast of the southeastern U.S. including some of the Bahamas was believed to be mainly composed of smoke from significant seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires primarily in Cuba and Hispaniola. Seasonal fire activity in Florida is likely also contributing to the portion of smoke over Florida and to the east of Florida over the Atlantic. Patches of thick smoke from the fires in Cuba were visible over western Cuba and just to the south of Cuba over the Caribbean Sea which were most likely mainly from the larger wildfires burning in western Cuba. Dust: Area from the Central U.S./Great Lakes Region to the Mid-Atlantic Region… A broad area of leftover blowing dust from yesterday’s significant event which originated primarily in parts of western Texas, New Mexico, and western Oklahoma was seen this morning stretching from the Middle/Upper Mississippi Valley region eastward to the central Appalachians. The portion of the dust which was moving from Indiana across Ohio to southwestern Pennsylvania and northern and western West Virginia was at least moderately thick in density. It is also possible that some of the aerosol seen in satellite imagery over this region is leftover smoke from yesterday’s round of widespread seasonal burning occurring in the central, south central, and southeastern U.S. JS 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