DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z October 31, 2023
SMOKE: Southern California/Baja/Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja and Southern California… Areas of generally thin density smoke were visible this morning near and extending to the west and southwest from several wildfires located mainly between Los Angeles and San Diego and over northwestern Baja. The smoke extended well off the coast of southern California and Baja over the Pacific Ocean. Southeastern U.S./Northeastern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern U.S. Coast… A batch of leftover thin density smoke attributed to daily seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires in the south central and southeastern U.S., along with the Mid-Atlantic region was seen this morning stretching from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico to the northeast over a portion of the southeastern U.S. and just off the coast of the southeastern U.S. Northwestern U.S./Western Canada… Despite a significant amount of what is believed to be mainly seasonal/controlled type fire activity across parts of the northwestern U.S. and western Canada, little or no smoke was seen in satellite imagery this morning. AEROSOL/BLOWING DUST: Southern and Southeastern Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico… Patches of aerosol of generally thin density were seen along and off portions of southern and southeastern Mexico and over the Pacific Ocean. This aerosol was believed to be primarily composed of pollutants from industrial sources in Mexico. Some blowing dust is likely also present over the Gulf of Tehuantepec which originated from stronger northerly winds blowing across source regions just inland to the north of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. 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