DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 30, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in southern British Columbia continued to produce medium-density smoke plumes this morning, contributing to a regional area of light-to-moderate density smoke that drifted eastward over central Alberta and Saskatchewan. Moderate-density smoke that originated in the Northwestern United States drifted eastward into Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. A widespread layer of light-density smoke covered much of central and northern Canada, and also drifted southward to merge with light-density smoke covering CONUS. The light-density smoke eventually drifted northeastward off the Atlantic coast of CONUS. CONUS… Numerous wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, and Montana were observed producing individual medium-to-heavy density smoke plumes. Smoke from these fires contributed to a large area of medium-density smoke that extended southeastward across the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern United States, before drifting eastward over the Atlantic Ocean. A widespread layer of light-density smoke was observed covering much of CONUS, drifting westward from the Pacific Northwest over the Pacific Ocean, eastward and northeastward across the Atlantic Ocean, and southward across the Gulf of America into Mexico. Mexico… Light-density smoke was observed covering the Gulf of America and drifting southward across Gulf coast of Mexico, over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and into the Pacific Ocean. Caribbean… Fires in Cuba were observed producing individual light-density smoke plumes drifting westward and northwestward. GL 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