DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z February 19, 2026
SMOKE: Southern Plains/Midwest CONUS… Active fires were observed this evening across northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Individual light density smoke plumes were observed moving northeast from multiple fires in the region. A wildfire on the Oklahoma-Kansas state line was observed producing light-density smoke that moved northwest before becoming obscured by cloud cover for the remainder of the evening. Large fires in Potter and Deaf Smith Counties, Texas, and Howell County, Missouri, were observed producing heavy-density smoke near the source before transitioning to moderate-to-light smoke as they moved northeast. 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 smoke that extended southwestward off the Mexican and Guatemalan coasts into the Pacific Ocean. A large fire in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, was observed producing heavy-density smoke near the source before transitioning to moderate-to-light density as it moved northeast within the state. Smoke also spread across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec before settling along the coast in the southern Gulf. Hernandez 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