DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z September 10, 2026
SMOKE: Canada/Gulf of Alaska... Due to significant cloud cover this evening, no individual smoke plumes were observed in Canada. However, a regional layer of light-density smoke was observed stretching from the Gulf of Alaska and British Columbia across central Canada, traveling as far as Ontario before becoming obscured by clouds. Light to medium density smoke also moved eastward with the cloud column over the Northwestern Passages, likely merging with cross-polar transport smoke over Baffin Bay and continuing over Greenland and the North Atlantic Ocean. A separate layer of remnant light to moderate density smoke was observed over the Gulf of Maine and southern Nova Scotia. CONUS… A broad layer of light-density smoke extended from the Ohio and Mississippi Valley into the Atlantic Ocean and back into the the Southeast before continuing into Texas and the Gulf Coast, ultimately merging with smoke from Mexico. Light density smoke from Canada crossed over the Great Lakes and into the Midwest. Oregon… Numerous fires ignited directly west of Salem, Oregon, today. Localized plumes of medium to heavy density smoke drifted eastward. California… A fire located in the southern portion of the Mendocino National Forest was observed producing localized light to medium density smoke. Idaho… A large area of smoke was observed in west-central Idaho from fires that ignited yesterday. Individual smoke plumes eventually merged and traveled eastward. Wyoming... The Moonshine Fire in southeastern Wyoming continued to burn this evening, producing heavy density smoke that drifted eastward into Nebraska and South Dakota. Mississippi Valley… Fires were active today across the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley, with the highest concentration of smoke located in Arkansas. Numerous individual plumes ranging from light to heavy density smoke were observed, primarily traveling northeastward. Louisiana… A fire in southeastern Louisiana produced a plume of moderate to heavy density smoke that drifted northwards across the state and southwards into the Gulf of America before becoming obscured by heavy cloud cover over Mississippi. Mexico... A layer of light-density smoke from fires, industrial activity, and smoke from CONUS was observed over the western Gulf of America, Bay of Campeche, Baja California, and the Pacific Ocean. A layer of medium to heavy density smoke was observed over the Bay of Campeche and Isthmus of Tehuantepec, sourced from today’s industrial activity. BLOWING DUST: Caribbean... Moderate density blowing dust from the Sahara Desert was observed lofting over the Atlantic Ocean north of the Lesser Antilles, while light density dust drifted westward as far as Cuba. Gaskill 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