DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 16, 2026
Notice: Due to an outage on GOES19 (East), the smoke analysis has been performed using only GOES18 (West). SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the central Northwest Territories, central and southern Ontario, and central Saskatchewan and Manitoba continued to burn this evening, producing vigorous heavy-density smoke plumes drifting southeastward, combining into a large plume of smoke embedded in the jet stream and drifting southeastward into the Atlantic Ocean. A large area of moderate-density smoke was observed stretching over much of Canada from the Northwest Territories to Newfoundland. A broad area of light-density smoke was observed across much of Canada, extending into both the Pacific Ocean and over the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of Newfoundland. CONUS… A layer of heavy-density smoke from fires in Canada was observed stretching over the Great Lakes region, the Mid-Atlantic States, and eastward over the Atlantic Ocean. A large area of light-to-moderate density smoke covered much of the US this evening, drifting eastward over the Atlantic Ocean and westward over the Rocky Mountains. Southwestern U.S.… The Aspen Acres, Gold Mountain Fires, Willow, and Elk Fires in Colorado were observed producing localized moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes. Oregon… The East Evans Creek Fire in southwestern Oregon was observed producing moderate-to-heavy density smoke drifting northeastward towards British Columbia. Isolated fires in northeastern Oregon were observed producing light-to-moderate density smoke. Dominican Republic… A fire in central Dominican Republic was observed producing light-to-moderate density smoke drifting southeast. Mexico… A layer of light-density smoke from fire activity and remnant smoke from previous days was observed over the Pacific coast of Mexico, extending westward into the Pacific Ocean. Monaghan 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