DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z February 22, 2026
SMOKE: Southern United States… Scattered fire activity from eastern Texas and Oklahoma, southern Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana contributed to a large area of light-to-moderate smoke from the western Gulf to the Carolinas. Moderately thick plumes were observed in Arkansas with movement south. Denser smoke gathered over Louisiana and along the Texas coast. Individual large plumes also drifted south from Louisiana and Mississippi. Mexico/Guatemala/Florida/Cuba/Southern Gulf… Scattered agricultural fires and remnant smoke from previous days persisted across the southern Gulf of America, with spread south across Mexico and Guatemala’s Pacific coast, and some light-density smoke observed spreading from Cuba northeast over southern Florida into the Atlantic. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean... Remnant smoke from previous days, as well as aerosol emissions from gas flaring and other industrial activities in central and southern Mexico and Bay of Campeche, concentrated into a layer of light-density smoke that extended across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and drifted southwest into the Pacific Ocean. Mills 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