DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z August 15, 2026
SMOKE: Canada… Wildfires in the Northwest Territories continued to burn this evening, producing heavy-density smoke that moved eastward to east-southeastward across much of Canada, reaching as far as New Brunswick and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The heavy smoke gradually dispersed into a layer of moderate-density smoke that continued moving in the same direction before eventually turning northward from the Gulf of St. Lawrence into the Labrador Sea toward Greenland. Light-density smoke also covered much of Canada this evening. CONUS/Atlantic Ocean... Wildfires across the Pacific Northwest continued to produce moderate-to-heavy density smoke across the region this evening. The smoke moved northward into British Columbia where it merged with smoke produced by wildfires in the region. Smoke from the Pacific Northwest also drifted southward and southwestward into Oregon. Eventually, throughout the evening, the smoke turned eastward and transitioned to light-density smoke as it extended into Idaho, Montana, and as far east as North Dakota. Mexico/Gulf of America/Pacific Ocean... Light-density smoke was observed over along the Mexican Gulf Coast, Central Mexico, and the Gulf of America, some of which drifted southwestward across southern Mexico into the Pacific Ocean. SAHARAN DUST: Saharan Dust is observed extending westward from the Sahara into the Caribbean, with portions of the dust plume continuing westward toward the Gulf of America. Hernandez 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