Fire weather is what we in the fire industry consider to be one of the most important factors in deciding how to attack a wildfire.
Some of the different aspects of weather that affect fire behavior:
- Speed and Direction
- Fuel Temperature
- Fuel Moisture Content
- Average Annual Precipitation
these are just a few of the weather details that affect fire behavior. Lets take a look at some types of weather information we look at in the fire industry that helps us determine fire danger and fire behavior.
Most of the time when someone asks me "what does the fire danger look like for the next several days?" the first thing I look at is how much rainfall that particular area has recieved in the past 30 days. One indicator that we use is KBDI or the Keetch-Byrum Drought Index, this is a fairly good indicator of the amount of moisture the fuels have in them which in turn tells us how likely they are to ignite.