This project chronicles the different critical fire weather patterns that affect the United States. A critical fire weather pattern can be defined as a combination of upper and lower atmospheric conditions that promote ignitions and fire growth with the limiting factor of fuel conditions. The variety of patterns is regional in nature, but there are several general patterns that occur across the United States.
This project was awarded by USDA Forest Service to the Desert Research Institute's (DRI) Program for Climate, Ecosystem, and Fire Applications (CEFA). The project was completed in conjunction with the Geographical Area Coordination Centers' (GACC) Predictive Services meteorologists. The meteorologists for each GACC provided examples of each critical fire weather pattern that occurs in their respective region. CEFA generated case studies from the information provided by the GACC meteorologists using North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data and surface data from MesoWest. There are narratives describing each GACC's critical fire weather patterns and case study examples with supporting weather maps.
This is not the first attempt to chronicle and summarize the different critical fire weather patterns of the United States. Select previous studies are listed below (bold) with a brief summary:
Synoptic Weather Types Associated with Critical Fire Weather. Schroeder M, Glovinsky M, Hendricks V, Hood F, Hull M, Jacobson H, Kirkpatrick R, Krueger D, Mallory L, Oertel A, Reese R, Sergius L, Syverson C., 1964. Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley CA. 492 pp.
Critical Fire Weather Patterns - Their Frequency and Levels of Fire Danger. Melvin K Hull; Clyde A O'Dell; Mark J Schroeder, 1966.
- 21 critical fire weather patterns across the United States
- Patterns east/west of the Rockies, more specific west of the Rockies
- Most patterns associated with ridge, breaking down of ridges, wind
- No mention of lightning
Critical Fire Weather Patterns of the United States. National Weather Service's (NWS) Fire Weather Forecasters Course Presented at Boise, ID, March 30 - April 2, 1999.
- Identified 24 critical fire weather patterns (some repetitive but occurred in different regions)
- Detail lightning, dry thunderstorms
- Comprehensive, but older, inconsistent maps and lack of connection to actual fires
Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior Volume I for Fire Managers. Werth, PA, Potter, BE, Clements, CB, Finney, MA, Goodrick, SL, Alexander, ME, Cruz, MG, Forthofer, JA, McAllister, SS. 2011. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 144 pp.
- Overview of Critical Fire Weather Patterns, some examples
- Better connection to actual fires with each pattern
- Good references
The USFS North Central Research Station identified regional fire weather patterns for large fires during 1971-1991.