DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z May 17, 2025
SMOKE: Central United States... An area of remnant smoke was seen across sections of southern Colorado, northern New Mexico east into the Texas/Oklahoma Panhandles and western/central Kansas. Smoke may extend farther into Oklahoma and Texas, but difficult to see due to met clouds. Florida… Multiple fires located in south Florida around/near Lake Okeechobee were emitting light smoke plumes that moved northeast across the state. Arizona… Two large wildfires, the Blind Fire located in Coconino National Forest near the Happy Jack Passage area and the second being the Greer Fire near Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Both fires were emitting light to moderately dense smoke moving towards the northeast. The Greer Fire, the smoke is making it into western New Mexico. Central Canada… Light remnant smoke from wildfires was seen in central Saskatchewan, but due to cloud cover, smoke may extend farther east across the province and into western Manitoba. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Mexico/Central America/Pacific Ocean/Texas/Gulf of America... An expansive area of light density smoke and aerosols - attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity, volcanic emissions, and industrial sources throughout western, central, and southern Mexico - was observed this morning extending across western, southern, and eastern Mexico, the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s western and southern coastlines, the Yucatán Peninsula, north Central America, southern Texas, and the Gulf of America. JK 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