Wildland Fire Update
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) based in Boise (Idaho) provides key information on current
wildland fire situations, related information and background materials. The following
information is updated daily and can be accessed directly:
- State-by-State daily and year-to-date summary of fire activities
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html
- Year-to-date State-by-State total number of wildland fires and area
burned (table)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfnmap.html
- Daily locations of large fires (map)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html
The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) provides daily situation reports. These reports include:
- Incident Management Situation Reports (fires and area burned reported to NICC). The files include current, previous and archived reports
- Prescribed Fire and Wildland Fire Use (year-to-date fires and area burned reported to
NICC, posted weekly on Monday mornings)
http://www.nifc.gov/news/RXWFUYTD.htm
Fire Weather & Fire Danger Information
The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a contribution of "The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit", Missoula (Montana USA). The broad area component of the Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) generates maps of selected fire weather and fire danger components.
Fire Danger (Potential) is a normalized adjective rating class across different fuel models and station locations. It is based on information provided by local station managers about the primary fuel model, fire danger index selected to reflect staffing level, and climatological class breakpoints. Low danger (Class 1) is green and extreme potential (Class 5) is red.
 |
 |
Fire danger maps for the United States for 18
November 2001 (observation time) and 19 November 2001 (forecast)
(Source: WAFS)
Dead fuel moisture responds solely to ambient environmental conditions and is critical in determining fire potential. Dead fuel moistures are classed by timelag.
|
|
|
10-HR Fuel Moisture |
100-HR Fuel Moisture |
1000-HR Fuel Moisture |
Fuel moisture maps for conterminous US, 18 November 2001
(Source: WAFS)
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duff drought index. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, daily precipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. The index ranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) (details).
Keetch-Byram Drought Index Maps for conterminous US, 18
November 2001
(Source: WAFS)
For more information on the recent fire
situation see: Recent Media Highlights
on Fire, Policies, and Politics ,
especially several articles since 1 November 2001.
Near-real time satellite images
Operational
Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis Branch
meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
|
|
NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-12 POES AVHRR LAC satellite images, 16 November 2001.
Heat signatures (red) are visible from several fires burning across the Southeast.
A blaze north of Bryson City, N.C. has scorched about 3,100 acres inside the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park. This wildfire is the largest in the park at least since 1970.
This information is from the Asheville Citizen-Times.
(Source: OSEI/NOAA)
(AVI-Animation, MS Media Player required):
This GOES-8 image loop shows smoke plumes from fires burning in Tennessee and North
Carolina. Click anywhere on the image to start the looping.
(Source: OSEI/NOAA)
Long-range weather forecasts
National Weather
Service
Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures for
the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest
(see 30 and 90-day forecast maps).
30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps (October
and October to December 2001)
(Source: National Weather
Service)
The Florida
Division of Forestry gives the following long-range Wildfire Season Forecast September - March 2002
for Florida:
"A return to near normal conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean marks the end
of the prolonged La Niña event that brought very active fire seasons to the state
the past few years. Normal to slightly warmer sea surface temperatures in the Pacific will bring us our first “normal” winter in a while, and if sea surface temperatures continue to slowly warm we may get above normal rainfall this winter."
For further information see: Wildfire
Season Forecast of the Florida Division of Forestry
For further information you may also see to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
For background information on the Southern Area see the Edited Version of the Southern Area Intelligence Briefing Paper for 22 April 2001.