DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z May 1, 2026
SMOKE: Midwestern United States… Agricultural fires throughout the north-central United States generated multiple light density smoke plumes that moved mainly southeast. Plumes concentrated in northwestern Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and western Iowa. Northwestern United States… Scattered fires throughout western Montana and Idaho produced small plumes of light density smoke that drifted east. Cuba… Fires in western Cuba continued through the afternoon, which produced a wide area of medium density smoke that drifted north. Southern Florida… Agricultural fires south of Lake Okeechobee generated large individual plumes of light-density smoke that drifted east over the Atlantic. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Pacific Ocean/Gulf of America/Central America/Gulf Coast of CONUS… Smoke from fire activity across southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, aerosol emissions from gas flaring and other industrial activities, as well as remnant smoke from previous days contributed to a widespread layer of light-density smoke/aerosol that spread from the Pacific coast of Mexico across the Gulf. Smoke concentrated in the western Gulf and southern Mexico, where a medium-density layer extended from the Pacific coast to the Yucatan and north to the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Mills 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