DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z September 8, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the southern Northwest Territories continued to burn this morning, producing a localized area of medium-to-heavy density smoke. A layer of remnant heavy-density smoke was observed extending across northern Ontario, the Hudson Bay, Quebec, and Nunavut. This layer dispersed into medium-density smoke that drifted southeastward over Newfoundland, New Brunswick, into the northeastern United States, and over the Atlantic Ocean. A layer of light-density smoke from fires in the Northwest Territories drifted eastward into Nunavut and southwestward toward the northwestern United States. Light-density smoke was also observed over much of eastern Canada, drifting eastward as far as Greenland and southward to join with light-density smoke over CONUS. CONUS… A localized layer of remnant medium-density smoke was observed drifting over southern Idaho and Oregon before extending westward over the Pacific Ocean. Individual plumes of medium-to-heavy density smoke were observed from fires in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Virginia, drifting generally northward. A regional layer of medium-density smoke was observed drifting southward across the Central Plains before extending eastward into the Southeastern U.S. and southwestward into Mexico. Light-density smoke covered much of the northwestern United States before drifting southwestward over the Pacific Ocean. Light-density smoke also covered much of central and eastern CONUS, drifting northward to join with light-density smoke over Canada, eastward over the Atlantic Ocean, and southward toward Mexico. Mexico… A localized layer of medium-density smoke was observed over Tabasco, Campeche, and the Bay of Campeche. A layer of light-density smoke from fires, industrial activity, and smoke from CONUS was observed over much of Mexico, extending southwestward over the Pacific Ocean, southward into northern Guatemala, and westward into the Gulf of America. BLOWING DUST: Caribbean… Dust from the Sahara Desert was observed lofting over the Atlantic Ocean this morning, drifting westward as far as the Lesser Antilles. Marrs 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