DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z August 26, 2026
SMOKE: Canada... Wildfires in the Northwest Territories continued to burn this evening. These fires were observed producing an area of heavy-density smoke plumes that traveled northeastward. Despite significant cloud cover, a layer of light-to-moderate density smoke spread northwards from the Northwest Territories, as well as southwards to join with smoke in British Columbia. A narrow band of remnant moderate-density smoke extended southwestward from Ontario over Minnesota and the Dakotas before merging with light-density smoke over CONUS. Localized heavy-density plumes in southern British Columbia continued, contributing to a regional layer of moderate-density smoke that extended across the province and northeastward into Alberta before merging with smoke from the U.S. Pacific Northwest. 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, Nevada, and Idaho, continued to produce localized heavy-density smoke plumes. A regional layer of moderate-density smoke extended northward into British Columbia and southeastward into the Northern Plains. A separate layer of remnant moderate-density smoke was observed drifting eastward over much of the Midwestern U.S. Additional remnant smoke joined with a layer of moderate-density smoke sourced from the Ross Fire in Texas, which extended generally southward over the Gulf Coast before changing direction and moving further westward across the Mexican border. The Timber Fire in Monterey County, California produced localized heavy-density smoke and an extensive layer of light-to-moderate density smoke extending northward towards the Central Valley and southward into the Pacific Ocean. A large layer of light-density smoke covered nearly all of CONUS before drifting northeastward 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. 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 Baja California, the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Bay of Campeche and Northern Yucatan, before drifting westward into the Pacific Ocean and eastward into the Gulf of America. BLOWING DUST: Caribbean/Central America… Light Saharan dust was observed blowing across the Atlantic Ocean this evening, drifting across the Caribbean Sea towards Central America. 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