DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z February 18, 2026
SMOKE: Southern Plains... The large wildfires in northern Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and northern Texas continued to burn this morning, producing light-density smoke that drifted to the northeast with the weather system. Florida... Agricultural fires near and south of Lake Okeechobee were observed producing light-density smoke plumes moving to the northwest this morning. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean... Smoke from scattered fire activity, as well as industrial aerosol emissions and remnant smoke from previous days, concentrated into an area of light-to-moderate smoke that extended southwestward off the Mexican and Guatemalan coasts into the Pacific Ocean. Smoke also spread across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and settled along the coast in the southern Gulf. 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