Monday, September 1, 2025

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z September 1, 2025

SMOKE:
Western and Central Canada/Midwestern United States...
Wildfire activity continues to burn across the Yukon, Northwest
Territories, southern British Columbia, and northwestern
Saskatchewan. Wildfires are also likely present in Alberta as well, but
are not analyzed due to thick cloud cover blanketing the province. This
activity was producing a sizable area of low-level thick smoke that
covers an area from central Northwest Territory into northwestern
Montana and expanding southward. In southwestern British Columbia,
an intense wildfire began to develop explosively overnight and is
producing a pyrocumulus cloud with smoke extending both westward around
a mid-level low off the Pacific Northwest coast and eastward across
central British Columbia. Moderate remnant smoke was observed extending
from the wildfire activity in northern and western Canada eastward to the
Maritime Provinces, Greenland, and the far northern Atlantic Ocean. The
full extent of smoke across central Canada is uncertain, as widespread
cloud cover is obscuring the smoke plume across that region.

US West Coast...
Wildfires in the Sierras, far northwestern California, and west-central
Oregon were observed producing moderate to thick smoke this morning at
sunrise. Thick smoke from the fires in the Sierras could be seen moving
north-northwestward and could be seen as far north as southeastern Oregon,
while smoke from the central Oregon and northwest California fires was
seen extending west-northwestward to the Pacific coast. Another fire in
east-central Washington State was seen producing light smoke that was
moving off toward the west-southwest.

Hosley


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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.