DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1550Z July 22, 2026
SMOKE: Canada... Wildfires in the Northwest Territories, central Saskatchewan, Alberta, southern British Columbia, and Manitoba continued to burn this morning, producing vigorous medium-to-heavy density smoke plumes. Regional layers of heavy-density smoke covered the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Medium-density smoke from these fires, along with remnant smoke from previous days, extended eastward across Nunavut, Hudson Bay, Ontario, and northern Quebec. Smoke also drifted southward, merging with medium-density smoke over the United States. Light-density smoke was observed drifting westward over the Pacific Ocean, eventually joining a widespread layer of light-density smoke over the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. CONUS... Numerous wildfires in Oregon and Washington were observed producing individual heavy-density smoke plumes. Smoke from these fires merged with smoke moving southward from Canada, ultimately producing a layer of medium-density smoke that covered much of the northern half of the United States and extended eastward to central Pennsylvania. Light-density smoke covered nearly all of CONUS. This smoke extended eastward over the Atlantic Ocean, southeastward over the Caribbean, and southward into Mexico. Mexico... Light-density smoke drifted southward from CONUS over Baja California, the Gulf of California, and into the Pacific Ocean. Separate regional layers of light-density smoke from ongoing fire activity and remnant smoke from previous days were observed along the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and extending across the southern Gulf of America, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Caribbean Sea. North Atlantic Ocean... A separate layer of remnant medium density smoke from previous days’ fire activity was observed covering Newfoundland and extending northeastward into the North Atlantic, southeast of Greenland, as well as southward to Puerto Rico, ultimately covering much of the North Atlantic Ocean. Light-density smoke extended beyond the boundaries of this medium-density layer, reaching eastward to eastern Greenland and the Azores, and southward into the Caribbean Sea. BLOWING DUST: Caribbean... Dust was observed lofting from the Sahara Desert, drifting westward over the eastern Caribbean. YL 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