DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z August 3, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in southern British Columbia and Northwest Territories persisted and produced moderate-to-heavy density smoke plumes, contributing to a widespread area of moderate-to-heavy density smoke that moved southeast into Alberta and Saskatchewan and the western United States. Smoke circulated back to the northeast and gathered west of Hudson Bay in Manitoba and Ontario. Smoke coverage was also fed from fires burning throughout the western United States and Rocky Mountains. CONUS… Wildfires in the western United States and Rocky Mountains continued overnight. A large area of heavy smoke persisted across eastern Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho and Montana, which moved northeast into Canada and gathered in Manitoba and western Quebec as it circulated north along Hudson Bay. A second area of heavy, dense smoke originated in eastern Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, and drifted northeast across the plains and joined the accumulated smoke from the western states and moved into Canada. Smoke expanded and thinned across the region from the Pacific to Appalachia, and into the western Gulf, Mexico and central America. Mexico… Light smoke covered the region from Baja and the Pacific coast to the western Gulf, and spread south into Guatemala. Mills 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