DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 31, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in southern British Columbia continued to produce medium-to-heavy density smoke plumes this morning, contributing to a regional area of moderate density smoke that drifted eastward over southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Moderate-to-heavy density smoke that originated in the Northwestern United States drifted northeastward into Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. A regional layer of remnant moderate-density smoke spanned over much of eastern Ontario, western Quebec, and Midwestern United States. Fires in the Northwest Territories were also observed producing moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes, merging with a widespread layer of light-density smoke that covered much of central and northern Canada. The smoke extended southward to merge with light-density smoke covering CONUS, and eventually drifted offshore into the Atlantic Ocean. CONUS… Numerous wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, 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 northeastward into Canada before drifting back to the southeast across the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern United States, and continuing eastward over the Atlantic Ocean. A widespread layer of light-density smoke was observed covering much of CONUS, extending across the Atlantic Ocean and southward into the Gulf of America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Mexico… A large plume of light-density smoke was observed spreading southward from CONUS across Baja California, the Gulf of America, and much of Mexico and Central America before drifting offshore into the Pacific Ocean. Caribbean… The large regional plume from CONUS extended southward into the Caribbean this morning, spanning over much of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. 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