During May of 2003, smoke from fires in the Yucatan Peninsula was transported across the Gulf of Mexico and into Texas where it caused significant enhancement in measured aerosol concentrations and reduced visibility. During this event, the formation and growth of aerosol particles has been observed by a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) / tandem differential mobility analyzer (TDMA) system to characterize the size distribution and size-resolved hygroscopicity of the aerosol. The most number concentration is by the particles smaller than 100 nm, but the integrated number concentrations for over 100 nm increased due to the aerosol growth. Hygroscopic growth factor increase from 1.2 to 1.4 for 25, 50, and 100 nm particles during the nucleating period. This distribution and the aerosol properties derived from the TDMA data were used to calculate the growth rate. Particle growth rates were in the range 1-12 nm/hr.