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Smoke from forest fires in the western part of North America reached the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, at the beginning of September 2017. Number concentration of ice nucleating particles (INPs) active at −15 °C or warmer decreased by about half during its passage. This is different to observations of enhanced INP concentrations in fresh plumes from forest fires. We hypothesise that INPs initially present in a smoke plume are lost or deactivated during long‐range transport, while components of smoke capable of deactivating INPs originally present or mixed later into the plume continue to remain active across a longer distance. Indicators of smoke observed in the Swiss Alps during the passage of an air mass affected by forest fires in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]