DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0105Z May 23, 2022
SMOKE: New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma… The Hermits Peak Fire and the Black Fire continue to burn in north central and southwestern New Mexico, respectively. Predominantly moderate density smoke was observed emitting from those fires during the afternoon hours, with plumes dispersing toward the northeast-east across eastern New Mexico and over Oklahoma. Northeastern U.S./Eastern Canada… A large area of remnant thin density smoke likely originated from the New Mexico wildfires as well as several other smaller fires in the southeast U.S. was seen over the northwestern Atlantic off the New England and Nova Scotia coastlines extending for approximately 800 miles to the east and 1,000 to the south. The plume is traveling eastward following the higher level atmospheric flow in that region. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Texas/Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Pacific South of Mexico… A large area of mostly light to moderate density smoke from widespread seasonal fire activity continues to cover most of Mexico with the exception of northwestern states, northwestern Central America, most of Gulf of Mexico with the potential exception of the central-northern region where dense clouds blocked the view, and extending well offshore to the southwest-west of Mexico over the Pacific. The northern section of that plume also extended across Texas where it eventually mixed with smoke from the New Mexico wildfires. Localized areas of heavy concentration smoke were observed across parts of southwestern Mexico where several larger wildfires were burning. Emissions from gas flaring and other industrial activities contributed additional light smoke to that large plume. DUST: Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea… Light Saharan dust was seen moving westward over much of the Caribbean Sea while also impacting the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola to the north. WS 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