DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2350Z October 16, 2024
SMOKE: Intermountain West/Great Plains/southern Prairie Provinces/Gulf Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Florida/Mid-Atlantic Coast... As previously observed in the morning, wildfire activity continued to occur mainly across Idaho, western Montana, and northern Wyoming producing heavy to light moderate density smoke. This smoke produced a layer of light to moderate density smoke that dispersed northeastward into southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, from where it shifted south across the Great Plains states and across Texas and northern Mexico into the Gulf coast and Gulf of Mexico. From there, the remnant smoke blew eastwards, wrapping around the southern edge of the Appalachian mountains and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Lower Mississippi Valley/Louisiana Gulf Coast… Proceeding into the evening, agricultural burning along the Mississippi river was observed producing light to moderate density smoke plumes. The smoke from these burns was mainly moving southwestward towards the Gulf of Mexico. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Central-Southern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Central America/Cuba/Hispaniola/Pacific Ocean... A large area of predominantly light to moderate smoke attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central-southern Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Central America and northern South America was observed today over southern Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean off the southern coastline of Mexico, and east over the northern Caribbean Sea. Moderate smoke was visible over the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America. Aerosols from a composite of volcanic emissions and industrial sources in Mexico contributed to the expansive area of aerosol/smoke seen in these regions today. Cardona 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