DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z April 22, 2026
SMOKE: Upper Midwest/Great Lakes/Ohio and Tennessee Valley… Agricultural fires were present across much of the Midwest this morning, but minimal individual smoke plumes were detected. A large area of remnant smoke from yesterday’s fire activity was observed across the region, spanning from Minnesota to the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley before continuing southeast into the Tennessee Valley. Southeast CONUS/Georgia… Fires were present across southeastern United States, however significant cloud cover in the region prevented detection of individual plumes. The Pineland Road wildfire in southern Georgia continued to burn this morning. Moderate-to-heavy density smoke was observed through breaks in cloud cover extending northwards into central Georgia. A remnant light-density smoke plume was observed across central Georgia and the western part of South Carolina. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Pacific Ocean/Guatemalan Coast/Southwestern Gulf of America… 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/aerosol that covered most of central and southern Mexico, extending across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec into the southern Gulf of America. Smoke from western Guatemala and the southern coast of Mexico continued southwestward into the Pacific Ocean. 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