Forest Fires in the Southern United States
7 June 1999
On the Florida-Georgia state line firefighters battling a 68,000-acre (27,518 ha) fire. Rain helped the fire fighters to control the situation better. However, the occurence of rain in combination with lightning still keeps the fire danger high. There are several larger fires RIGHT NOW in Central Florida.
Several active fire signals are recorded by OSEI on 4 June 1999 in northern Florida.
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Fig.1. The NOAA AVHRR image show a few
heat signatures and some smoke from scattered areas of fire in
northern Florida.
(Source: NOAA http://www.osei.noaa.gov/)
The FLORIDA WILDFIRE STATUS SYNOPSIS prepared by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services/Division of Forestry in conjunction with the National Forests in Florida of 4 June 1999 reports 30 wildfires which burned 343 acres (138 ha). The year-to-date statistic summarizes 3,852 wildfires with an burned over area of 282,583 acres (114,357 ha).
The INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT (http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.html)
from 7 June 1999 can be quoted as follows:
"...
CURRENT SITUATION:
Large fire activity continued in the Southwest and Southern Areas; minimal initial attack
activity was reported elsewhere. Mobilization of resources through the National
Interagency Coordination Center moderated, with orders processed for miscellaneous
overhead to the Southwest Area. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in
New Mexico, Arizona and West Texas.
OUTLOOK:
A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS POSTED FOR WESTERN NEW MEXICO TODAY FOR HIGH HAINES
INDICES AND LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES
New Mexico will be variably cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in
the eastern part of the state. The northeast will be breezy in the afternoon. High
temperatures will be in the high 70s and 80s in the mountains and northwest and around 90
in lower elevations.
Arizona will be sunny. Winds will be south at 15 to 25 MPH with gusts to
40 MPH. High temperatures will be in the 60s to 80s in the mountains and 85 to 104 in the
valleys.
Northern Florida will be partly cloudy with isolated afternoon showers.
Winds will be out of the east at 10 to 20 MPH. High temperatures will be 80 to 90.
Minnesota will have scattered morning showers and then be mostly cloudy
in the north. The southern part of the state will have morning showers, becoming mostly
sunny in the afternoon. Winds will be west at 10 to 20 MPH. High temperatures will be 70
to 80.
Colorado will be partly cloudy with isolated afternoon showers and
thunderstorms. Winds will be southwest at 10 to 20 MPH. High temperatures will range from
the 50s to 60s in the mountains and from 70 to 80 in the eastern plains.
..."
For detailed information regarding specified regions, please refer to the whole report.