DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z July 10, 2026
SMOKE: Canada... Wildfires in the central Northwest Territories continued to burn this evening, producing heavy-density smoke plumes. A regional layer of medium-density smoke spanned across the Northwest Territories, traveling northeast into Nunavut and eventually merging with a remnant portion of heavy-density smoke located in the Northwestern Passages. Individual smoke plumes in Saskatchewan contributed to a broader area of medium-density smoke that extended across Manitoba and Ontario, crossing into northern Minnesota and Lake Superior. In west-central Ontario, extensive wildfires produced individual medium-to-heavy-density smoke that began to merge into a singular plume. A widespread area of light-density smoke spanned from the Northwest Territories across central and eastern Canada, eventually merging with light-density smoke over CONUS and the Atlantic Ocean. Southwestern U.S/Midwest and Eastern U.S... The Babylon and Gold Mountain Fires in Utah and Colorado continued to burn this evening, producing individual plumes of medium-density smoke drifting eastward. The smoke plume eventually merged with the broader layer of smoke extending southward from Canada, dispersing across eastern CONUS before continuing eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. Oregon/California… Wildfires near the Whitman National Forest, located in northeastern Oregon, produced individual light-to-medium-density smoke that traveled into parts of southern Washington and western Idaho. In California, the Summit Fire, located north of Los Angeles, ignited this evening and produced a layer of light-to-medium-density smoke that dispersed generally to the east. Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean… A layer of light-density smoke from today’s fire activity, as well as remnant smoke from previous days, was observed across southern Mexico. The smoke extended across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Gulf of America before drifting offshore into the Pacific Ocean. BLOWING DUST… Baja California/Baja California Sur… Localized areas of light blowing dust was observed in the northwestern Gulf of California. Caribbean Sea… Light Saharan dust was observed blowing across the Atlantic Ocean this evening, eventually reaching parts of the eastern Caribbean Sea, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles. Gaskill 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