Wildfires force the closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product (above) showed the smoke plumes and thermal signatures associated with numerous wildfires across far northeastern Minnesota and southern Ontario on 13 July 2026. An elevated fire risk was in place, due to very warm surface air temperatures (near to above 100 F), low relative humidity and winds occasionally gusting over 20 mph. With the recent trend of increasing wildfire activity across the immediate region, a decision was made to close all entrances to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at the end of the day on 13 July.
A closer view using 1-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (below) displayed the hot thermal signatures and dense smoke plumes of these wildfires.