DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 29, 2026
SMOKE: Canada... Wildfires across the southern and eastern Northwest Territories and southern British Columbia continued to produce medium-to-heavy density smoke plumes. Smoke drifted east and spread to a larger area of light-to-medium smoke that extended from the Yukon to central Ontario. Smoke that originated in the United States drifted north into British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan and contributed to widespread coverage across the country. CONUS... Numerous wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Montana were observed producing large medium-to-heavy density smoke plumes which drifted northeast and spread into a large area of medium-density smoke across the northwestern United States and southern Canada. Smoke moved southeast across the Dakotas and Midwestern United States. Smoke continued to spread across the eastern United States, thinning to a light layer that extended from the Gulf to the northeast, and moved offshore into the Atlantic. Mexico... Light-density smoke spread out from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec into the western Gulf and merged with smoke spreading south from the United States. Light-density smoke was also observed along the Gulf of California and the Pacific coast of southern Mexico. BLOWING DUST: Caribbean... Light blowing dust was observed drifting from the Sahara Desert toward the Caribbean, reaching the Lesser Antilles. GM 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