DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z April 22, 2020
SMOKE:
Central and North Central U.S…
Thin to locally moderate density smoke from a concentrated area of
seasonal burning was present over eastern Kansas. Additional thin density
smoke plumes from more seasonal burning were visible over portions of
Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Southern Texas/Southern Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central
America/Cuba…
A huge area of smoke attributed to ongoing massive seasonal burning in
Mexico and Central America covered Central America, much of central,
southern, and southeastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, the central
and southern Gulf of Mexico, southern Texas, and southern Florida. Thin
to moderate density smoke also extended offshore of the southern coast
of Mexico over the Pacific. The thickest smoke extended from Honduras
across Guatemala and portions of southeastern Mexico including the
Yucatan Peninsula. The thicker smoke also moved northward over the Bay
of Campeche. Moderately dense smoke extended farther to the north along
the east coast of Mexico and into far southern Texas and to the east
across the southern Gulf of Mexico.
DUST:
Southeastern Arizona…
A narrow swath of fairly dense blowing dust originated from the Wilcox
Playa in southeastern Arizona and moved to the east reaching southwestern
New Mexico by late in the day.
Southern New Mexico...A patch of rather thin density blowing dust
originated from White Sands in south central New Mexico and moved off
to the northeast during the late afternoon.
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: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg
GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/
KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire)
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke)
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO:
SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov