DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1725Z May 23, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/Greenland/Atlantic Ocean... Numerous wildfires located throughout portions of Canada from northeast British Columbia to the south-central part of the Northwest Territories and the central regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba continued to burn despite being concealed by persistent cloud cover. Due to the large amount of ongoing wildfires and recently developed ones throughout these areas, a large area of smoke ranging from light to localized moderate density in areas close in proximity to the larger wildfires – such as those in the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta, covered a majority of Canada, extending from the central part of the Northwest Territories, across the majority of Canada and regions near the North Pole, as well as crossing into the North Atlantic Ocean, extending to the southwest coast of Greenland. Central United States... An area of light density smoke was seen throughout the Upper Midwest region of the United States where it combined with the area of Canadian smoke and further extended southwest into portions of the South Central United States, such as Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas where it began to mix with the second large area of Mexican/Central American smoke. Colorado... A light density smoke plume was observed emanating from a suspected wildfire located in the south-west corner of Colorado, dispersing northeastward in direction. New Mexico... A light density smoke plume was observed emanating from a suspected wildfire located in the north-central region of New Mexico, dispersing eastward in direction. Florida... Several agricultural burns originating from the surrounding areas of Lake Okeechobee were seen emitting plumes of light smoke dispersing westward towards the Gulf of Mexico. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean Sea/Central-Southern Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean... A large area of predominantly light to moderate density smoke attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central-southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America was observed this morning from the Gulf of Mexico, northeast through Florida and extending northeast into the northern Atlantic Ocean. The large area of aerosol/smoke continued expanding through the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Jamaica, central-southern Mexico, Central America and into the Pacific Ocean off the southwest coastline of Mexico. Areas of higher density smoke and aerosols were observed over northern Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. Aerosols from a composite of volcanic emissions and industrial sources in Mexico, and gas flaring activity in the Bay of Campeche contributed to the expansive area of aerosol/smoke observed throughout these regions today. Willkens 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