DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1640Z March 20, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOLS: Mississippi Valley and Southeastern CONUS... Widespread burning activity was observed across the southeastern U.S, with the most noticeable areas being South Carolina and Alabama. This widespread burning activity produced numerous smoke plumes, majority of them moving in south-southeast direction. Central America/Pacific Ocean south of Mexico... A large area of thin density smoke/aerosol mix produced from ongoing seasonal fire activity and industrial activity in Mexico and Central America was observed across Nicaragua, parts of Costa Rica and the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico. This smoke may extend further into northern regions of Central America but cloud cover precluded further analysis. DUST/AEROSOL: Southern Mississippi Valley/Mid-West... A large patch of thin density aerosol/dust was seen this morning extending from southern Indiana and southeastern Missouri towards the lower Mississippi Valley region of Arkansas and parts of northern Louisiana. This patch of aerosol/dust mixture may be composed of dust transported from desert regions in Asia as well as potential contributions from yesterday’s burning activity in the U.S Midwest and Great Plains. NGUYEN 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