Cascade Volcanoes Shrouded in Smoke

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 (3,429 meters), appeared near a thick plume of smoke from the Grasshopper fire. That fire was ignited by a lightning strike on July 23 and spread quickly north and east across Mount Hood National Forest amid hot, dry conditions, according to InciWeb.

As of August 12, the Grasshopper fire had burned nearly 84,000 acres (34,000 hectares) 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 (4,392 meters)—was wreathed in smoke on August 4. No major fires burned nearby at that time; instead, smoke drifted in from fires in central and eastern Washington, carried by winds from the east due to a high-pressure system offshore. That day, the National Park Service reported unhealthy air quality in the park due to elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Several days later, the Grand Park 2 fire was observed within park boundaries, about 3 miles north of the Sunrise Visitor Center; as of August 12 it had burned 223 acres (90 hectares) and was uncontained, with the cause undetermined.

Above-normal fire potential was expected to persist across the Northwest through August, according to an outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center. Warm, dry weather—conditions influenced by El Niño—combined with cured fuels to set the stage for large, long-burning fires following lightning- or human-caused ignitions. The astronaut photographs (ISS075-E-1705 and ISS075-E-2221) were acquired on July 31 and August 4, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera at 400mm focal length, provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast.