DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 9, 2026
SMOKE: Canada... Wildfires in the central Northwest Territories and southwestern British Columbia continued to burn and produced moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes this morning. A regional layer of medium-density smoke was observed spanning much of the Northwest Territories, extending eastward into Nunavut and southeastward into northern Manitoba. A more extensive layer of light-density smoke moved eastward into Nunavut, as well as southeastward, eventually merging with light-density smoke over much of southern Canada. Despite significant cloud coverage, fires in Quebec were also observed contributing to light-to-moderate density smoke layers over Newfoundland and Labrador and the Atlantic Ocean. Light-density smoke was observed drifting southeastward to join with a large layer of light-density smoke over the Atlantic Ocean. Southwestern U.S... The Babylon and Gold Mountain Fires in Utah and Colorado continued to burn this morning, producing localized individual plumes of light-to-heavy density smoke drifting eastward. Light-density smoke from the Ferris Fire in Colorado was also observed merging with light-density smoke from the Babylon Fire. Mexico/Central America/Baja California/Pacific Ocean… A layer of light-density smoke from today’s fire activity, as well as remnant smoke from previous days was observed across much of Mexico and parts of Central America. The smoke extended westward over the Pacific Ocean, as well as northeastward, ultimately merging with smoke from Canadian fires. BLOWING DUST… Caribbean Sea… Light Saharan dust was observed blowing across the Atlantic Ocean this evening, eventually reaching parts of the Caribbean Sea, including Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Marrs 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 map: https://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