Sunday, August 2, 2026

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z August 2, 2026

SMOKE:
Canada…
Wildfires in southern British Columbia continued to produce
moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes this evening, contributing to a
regional area of moderate-to-heavy density smoke that drifted northeast
across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario before moving north
into southeastern Nunavut. Some of this moderate-density smoke also
drifted southward from southern Manitoba and western Ontario into the
Midwestern United States. A widespread layer of light-density smoke
covered much of central and northern Canada, with additional contributions
from wildfires in Northwest Territories. The smoke extended westward
into the Pacific Ocean and southward to merge with light-density smoke
over CONUS, ultimately moving east into the southeastern states before
drifting offshore into the Atlantic Ocean.

CONUS…
Numerous wildfires in the western CONUS, including the Widemouth 2 Fire
in central Utah, continued to burn this evening, producing individual
moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes. Smoke from these fires extended
northeastward, contributing to the large area of smoke extending
northeastward across Canada before drifting back southeastward across the
Midwestern U.S. This smoke also contributed to the light-to-moderate
density smoke observed across much of the Great Plains, with the
light-density smoke extending south across Texas and into Mexico.

Mexico…
The plume of light-density smoke was observed spreading southward from
CONUS into eastern and central Mexico before drifting offshore into the
Pacific Ocean.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.