DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z March 24, 2026
SMOKE: Southeastern CONUS/Midwestern CONUS... Widespread agricultural fires continued across the Midwestern and Southeastern United States this morning. Despite significant cloud cover in the region, scattered light-density smoke plumes were observed along the border of Alabama and Georgia. Remnant smoke from yesterday’s fires produced a large area of light-density smoke that extended from the Midwest into the Southeast, which continued to drift offshore, traveling east-southeast into the Atlantic Ocean towards the Greater Antilles Islands. Florida... Agricultural fires near Lake Okeechobee produced multiple light-density smoke plumes this morning that traveled south. A larger plume of lingering light-density smoke was observed emanating from this region, stretching across southern Florida from the Gulf to the Atlantic. 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 the southern Gulf of America, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and along the southern coasts of Mexico and Central America 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