DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z January 23, 2026
SMOKE: Eastern United States... Agricultural fires continued in the Mississippi Valley, from northeast Texas through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. A few individual plumes were observed in Missouri and Illinois. Extensive cloud cover across the eastern U.S. obscured the full extent of a large area of light smoke drifting northeast from Georgia and the Carolinas toward the Mid-Atlantic and up the coast to Maine. Washington/California... A few wildfires were observed in western Washington and northern California, producing light-density smoke plumes moving in various directions. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean... An area of light-density smoke, consisting of fire activity throughout southern Mexico mixed with aerosols from nearby urban and industrial sources, was observed across the western Gulf of America, along the southern coast of Mexico, and offshore into the Pacific Ocean. YL 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