In a contrast of fire and ice, smoke from wildland fires mingled with several of the Cascade Range’s prominent, glaciated volcanoes in summer 2026.
Astronauts on the International Space Station photographed the scene while orbiting over the U.S. West in late July and early August.
Mount Hood, Oregon’s tallest peak at 11,249 feet, is pictured above, near a thick plume of smoke pouring from the Grasshopper fire.
Thunderstorms passed over the forest in the preceding weeks, and a lightning strike on July 23 ignited the blaze pictured in this July 31 photo.
The fire, burning east of the mountain, spread quickly north and east across Mount Hood National Forest amid hot, dry conditions, according to InciWeb.
As of August 12, it had burned nearly 84,000 acres and spread beyond national forest boundaries.
Several communities in Wasco County were under “go now” evacuation orders, and the nearby town of Dufur was advised to prepare for immediate evacuation.
Roughly 100 miles to the north in Washington, Mount Rainier—the state’s tallest peak at 14,411 feet—was wreathed in smoke.
No major fires burned nearby when this photo was taken on August 4.
Instead, smoke drifted in from fires incentral and eastern Washington, carried by windsblowing from the eastdue to a high-pressure system offshore.
That day, the National Park Servicereported that air quality in the park reached unhealthy levels due to elevated concentrations offine particulate matter.
Several days later, the Grand Park 2 firewas observed burning within park boundaries, about 3 miles north of the Sunrise Visitor Center.
As of August 12, the fire had burned 223 acres and was uncontained; the cause was yet undetermined.
Above-normal fire potential was expected to persist across the Northwest through August, according toan outlookfrom the National Interagency Fire Center.
Warm, dry weather—conditions influenced byEl Niño—combined with cured fuels to set the stage for large, long-burning fires following lightning- or human-caused ignitions.
Astronaut photographsISS075-E-1705andISS075-E-2221were acquired on July 31, 2026, and August 4, 2026, respectively, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters.
They are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center.
The images were taken by a member of the Expedition 75 crew.
The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed.
TheInternational Space Station Programsupports the laboratory as part of theISS National Labto help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet.
Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSCGateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
Story by Kathryn Hansen.
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InciWebGrand Park 2 Fire. Accessed August 12, 2026.
InciWebGrasshopper Fire. Accessed August 12, 2026.
National Interagency Fire Center’s Predictive ServicesNational Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook. Accessed August 12, 2026.
OPBFire growth near Mount Hood spurs fresh evacuations in Wasco, Clackamas counties. Accessed August 12, 2026.
Washington Smoke BlogSmoke continues to build statewide, gradual improvement expected later this week. Accessed August 12, 2026.
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Wildland fires in early August 2026 pushed air quality to unhealthy levels, destroyed hundreds of structures, and triggered mandatory evacuations…
The blaze burned more than 150 square miles and swept through parts of a ski resort.
Canadian wildfires sent plumes of smoke streaming over Ontario, Quebec, and parts of the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.
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