DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z August 20, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the Northwest Territories continued to burn today, producing localized moderate-to-heavy density smoke that moved southeastward over Alberta. Wildfires in southern British Columbia produced localized moderate-to-heavy density smoke, which dispersed into moderate-density smoke as it spread eastward across southern Canada and southeastward into CONUS. Remnant smoke from yesterday’s fire activity lingered as a region of moderate-density smoke extending southward from Nunavut across Manitoba before being obscured by significant cloud cover, likely joining with light-to-moderate density smoke over CONUS. A broad layer of light-density smoke covered nearly all of Canada before merging with smoke from CONUS. CONUS/Pacific Ocean/Atlantic Ocean… Wildfires across the Pacific Northwest continued to produce localized heavy-density smoke. A regional layer of medium-density smoke extended eastward over the Northern and Central Plains and northward into British Columbia to join with medium-density smoke in southern Canada. A large layer of light-density smoke covered much of CONUS, including the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, and much of eastern CONUS. This smoke drifted eastward into the Atlantic Ocean, westward into the Pacific Ocean, northward to join with light-density smoke over Canada, and southward to join with smoke over Mexico. Mexico/Gulf of America… A layer of light-density smoke from fires and industrial activity was observed across parts of central Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, and the western and central Gulf, ultimately reaching Cuba. This smoke drifted also drifted westward over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and into the Pacific Ocean. Cuba… Isolated fires in Cuba were observed producing light-to-moderate density smoke plumes generally drifting westward. 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