DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z August 24, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the Northwest Territories continued to burn this morning. These fires were observed producing an area of heavy-density smoke plumes that traveled eastward. Despite significant cloud cover, a layer of moderate-density smoke spread southeastward from the Northwest Territories, merging with smoke from British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest before traveling eastward across all of Central Canada and into the Hudson Bay. A broad layer of light-density smoke covered much of Canada before merging with smoke from CONUS. CONUS/Pacific Ocean/Atlantic Ocean… Wildfires across the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho, continued to produce localized heavy-density smoke plumes. A regional layer of moderate-density smoke extended northeastward into Canada, merging with the light-to-moderate smoke in the region. An area of remnant moderate-density smoke was observed extending southeastward across the Midwestern U.S. into southwestern Virginia. A large layer of light-density smoke covered nearly all of CONUS before drifting eastward into the Atlantic Ocean, southwestward 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 moderate-density smoke that extended northward. Mexico/Gulf of America… A layer of remnant light-density smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest of CONUS and Canada, as well as industrial activity in Mexico, was observed across central Mexico before drifting westward into the Pacific Ocean. Caribbean… Isolated fires in Cuba and the Bahamas were observed producing localized light-density smoke plumes drifting westward. 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