DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z April 14, 2026
SMOKE: Southeast CONUS… Agricultural fires actively burned across the Southeastern US this evening, producing multiple individual plumes of light-to-moderate density smoke. Plumes were observed with the highest frequencies in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. A number of fires located in southeastern Mississippi and western Georgia produced moderate-to-heavy smoke plumes that traveled to the north and northeast, respectively. The Woodbury fire, located in Marion County, South Carolina, produced moderate-to-heavy smoke plumes that traveled into North Carolina before continuing offshore into the Atlantic Ocean. Smoke from today’s fire activity merged into a large region of light-density smoke, stretching from the eastern Gulf and extending north into the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic. Florida… Agricultural fires adjacent to Lake Okeechobee produced an area of light-density smoke that traveled west across Central Florida this evening. The Newman Dr fire, located in Collier County, continued to burn today, producing plumes of light-density smoke that dispersed west into the Gulf of America. Cuba… Two large wildfires continued to burn in the province of Pinar del Rio this evening, with moderate-to-heavy density smoke dispersing westward and extending far offshore into the Yucatan channel. Additional fires in western Cuba contributed to a large region of light-density smoke that dispersed west into the Gulf of America, eventually merging with the large regional plume of light smoke from Mexico. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean… Smoke from fire activity, remnant smoke from previous days, and aerosol emissions from gas flaring and other industrial activities contributed to a layer of light-density smoke that extended into the Western and Central Gulf of America, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, over the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America, and along most of central and southern Mexico before continuing westward over the Pacific. An area of medium-density smoke was observed over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 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