DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z April 12th, 2025
SMOKE: Central and Southeastern United States... A relatively large area of mixed density smoke attributed to previous and ongoing fires was observed this morning stretching south from the Upper Midwest region of the United States near the Minnesota-Canada border through the Central region of the U.S. and towards the Gulf Coast before dispersing into the Gulf of America off the shore of Louisiana. A band of moderate density smoke was seen moving south along the shared borders from Nebraska and Iowa to the northeast Texas-southeast Arkansas border. Several individual plumes ranging from light to moderate in density were seen scattered throughout Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and were blowing mostly north in direction. Southern Florida... Several prescribed agricultural burns just south of Lake Okeechobee were observed this morning emitting light to moderate density plumes that were blowing southeastward in direction. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Central and Southern Mexico/Pacific Ocean/Gulf of America/Bay of Campeche... An area of light to moderate density smoke and aerosols attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity, volcanic emissions, and industrial sources throughout Central and Southern Mexico was observed this morning along the western coast of Mexico. Areas of more dense smoke/aerosols were also seen near Central America where the combination of smoke/aerosols was then observed extending further off the coastline of southern Mexico and Central America into the Pacific Ocean. Smoke and aerosols were observed in the central and southern areas of the Gulf of America near the Bay of Campeche where additional gas flaring emissions could be seen originating from oil rigs. 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