DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z March 21, 2026
SMOKE: Southeast CONUS/Midwestern CONUS… Widespread agricultural fires were present across the Midwestern and Southeastern United States this morning, producing scattered, individual light-density smoke plumes. A larger plume of light-density smoke from yesterday’s fires was detected across the region, spanning from the Central Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley towards the southeast into the Gulf of America, continuing east across the Mid-Atlantic states and eventually extending into the Atlantic Ocean. Florida… Agricultural fires south of Lake Okeechobee produced plumes of individual light-density smoke that drifted to the southwest, eventually merging into a larger smoke plume. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Mexico/Central America... Smoke from fire activity, remnant smoke from previous days, and aerosol emissions from gas flaring and other industrial activities in central and southern Mexico spread as a layer of light density smoke that extended from Guatemala, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, into the southern Gulf of America, and further west along the Mexican coast before continuing westward over the Pacific. Gaskill 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:http://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