Images
August 31, 2026 - Smoke Over Russia
Tweet
Warm temperatures combined with widespread tree damage due to Siberian silkmoth infestation set the stage for a vicious fire season in northern Russia in 2026. By June, IQAir reported that roughly 90 active fires had been reported in the forests of Krasnoyarsk Krai, a region of Russia, triggering the declaration of a regional wildfire emergency. Most of these were burning in remote, rugged terrain that was accessible only by air.
The situation had not improved by August 28, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of Siberia choking under a dense blanket of wildfire smoke. While not visible in this image, the NASA Worldview App shows many, many dozens of fires throughout the smoke-covered, with a large cluster of fire in the forests west of Solokut Forest Reserve, located in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The Sakha Republic lies east of Krasnoyarsk Krai, where fires continue to burn.
On August 26, IQ Air published an additional article spotlighting the wildfires in Siberia. At that time, they reported that massive wildfires continue to burn across three Arctic regions of Siberia, particularly Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sakha Republic, and the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district. As of the date of the report that, “Together, blazes in Krasnoyarsk and Sakha alone have scorched nearly 3.5 million acres, roughly the size of Connecticut.”
The fires reportedly remain largely uncontained, with smoke so thick in some areas that helicopters and other airborne assets cannot fly. Some residents across the region have been advised to stay indoors due to smoke while at least two villages in the Sakha Republic have been evacuated.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/28/2026
Resolutions:
1km (259.9 KB), 500m (724.9 KB), 250m (478 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Warm temperatures combined with widespread tree damage due to Siberian silkmoth infestation set the stage for a vicious fire season in northern Russia in 2026. By June, IQAir reported that roughly 90 active fires had been reported in the forests of Krasnoyarsk Krai, a region of Russia, triggering the declaration of a regional wildfire emergency. Most of these were burning in remote, rugged terrain that was accessible only by air.
The situation had not improved by August 28, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of Siberia choking under a dense blanket of wildfire smoke. While not visible in this image, the NASA Worldview App shows many, many dozens of fires throughout the smoke-covered, with a large cluster of fire in the forests west of Solokut Forest Reserve, located in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The Sakha Republic lies east of Krasnoyarsk Krai, where fires continue to burn.
On August 26, IQ Air published an additional article spotlighting the wildfires in Siberia. At that time, they reported that massive wildfires continue to burn across three Arctic regions of Siberia, particularly Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sakha Republic, and the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district. As of the date of the report that, “Together, blazes in Krasnoyarsk and Sakha alone have scorched nearly 3.5 million acres, roughly the size of Connecticut.”
The fires reportedly remain largely uncontained, with smoke so thick in some areas that helicopters and other airborne assets cannot fly. Some residents across the region have been advised to stay indoors due to smoke while at least two villages in the Sakha Republic have been evacuated.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/28/2026
Resolutions:
1km (259.9 KB), 500m (724.9 KB), 250m (478 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
