Phenomena: Wildfire, Smoke
Satellite: GOES West (GOES-18)
Product: GeoColor, Fire Temperature
Instrument: Advanced Baseline Imager
Timespan: July 29, 2026 (13:31 UTC) - August 3, 2026 (17:31 UTC)
The Pacific Northwest has seen a proliferation of wildfires this summer, many of which continue to burn across the region. Thick, grayish-brown smoke from the fires is visible in satellite imagery captured by NOAA’s GOES West (GOES-18) from July 29 to August 3, 2026.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been scorched so far by dozens of wildfires across the Pacific Northwest region, and many remain minimally contained. The fires have degraded air quality and caused evacuations of tens of thousands of people across Washington and Idaho.
Many of the wildfires were sparked by lighting strikes that occurred during a series of thunderstorms on July 15 and July 22. Since then, they have spread to neighboring states and now cover a large swath of the Pacific Northwest region. The National Weather Service has issued numerous Air Quality Alerts, Red Flag Warnings and other hazard alerts.
Learn more about how NOAA satellites monitor wildfires here. For the most up-to-date alerts, visit the National Weather Service website.
The GOES-18 geostationary satellite, also known as GOES West, keeps watch over western North America—including the contiguous United States and Mexico—as well as Hawaii and most of the Pacific Ocean. The satellite's high-resolution imagery provides optimal viewing of hazardous weather, as well as phenomena such as wildfire smoke.