DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z August 22, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the Northwest Territories continued to burn this evening. Despite heavy cloud cover, these fires were observed producing heavy-density smoke that stretched outwards in all directions. Medium-density smoke traveled southward to merge with plumes sourced from fires located in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Wildfires in southern British Columbia produced localized heavy-density smoke, which dispersed into moderate-density smoke as it spread northeastward across central Alberta and Saskatchewan and then southeastward into 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, including Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, continued to produce localized heavy-density smoke plumes. Despite heavy cloud cover, a regional layer of medium-density smoke was observed extending southeastward over the Central Plains and the Middle Mississippi Valley. A large layer of light-density smoke covered much of central and eastern CONUS, including the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, the Mid-Atlantic, and eastern CONUS. This smoke drifted off the Mid-Atlantic states further 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 the Gulf of America and Mexico. California… The Timber Fire in Monterey County, California was observed producing localized heavy-density smoke that extended westward into the Pacific Ocean, and northeastward into central California. Mexico/Gulf of America… A layer of light-density smoke from fires and industrial activity was observed across parts of north-central Mexico, the Bay of Campeche, and most of the Gulf, merging with light-smoke in the Caribbean. Despite significant cloud cover, some smoke was also observed drifting westward over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and into the Pacific Ocean. Caribbean… Isolated fires in Cuba were observed producing localized light-density smoke plumes drifting westward. A large fire in the central Dominican Republic produced medium-density smoke that extended westward before continuing as light smoke across Haiti and into the Caribbean Sea. Meyer 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