Weather Variables Affecting Oklahoma Wildfires

Wildfires in the United States can be destructive to human life and property. The ability to predict fire danger helps reduce the risks associated with wildfires by keeping firefighters on high alert and allowing better preparedness. In the state of Oklahoma, fire is a common occurrence. By looking...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rangeland ecology & management 2010-09, Vol.63 (5), p.599-603
Main Authors: Reid, Angela M., Fuhlendorf, Samuel D., Weir, John R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
air temperature
Climate change
Climate models
climatic conditions
Data collection
Drought
Environmental monitoring
Fire ecology
fire hazard
fire size
fire weather
Forest & brush fires
Forest fires
meteorological parameters
Personal property
Precipitation
prediction
rangelands
Relative humidity
Research Notes
risk factors
seasonal variation
simulation models
temporal distribution
Variables
Vegetation
Weather
Weather conditions
weather forecasting
Wildfires
wildland fire management
Wildland firefighting
wind speed
Wind velocity
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Summary:Wildfires in the United States can be destructive to human life and property. The ability to predict fire danger helps reduce the risks associated with wildfires by keeping firefighters on high alert and allowing better preparedness. In the state of Oklahoma, fire is a common occurrence. By looking at past wildfire records and researching the weather conditions under which they burned, we were able to determine the most important weather conditions affecting wildfire size. We looked at 10 different weather variables and found that minimum relative humidity (r  =  0.98, P  =  0.001), maximum and average wind speed (r  =  0.95, P  =  0.003; r  =  0.95, P  =  0.004, respectively), and precipitation (r  =  0.88, P  =  0.02) were the most important factors relating to wildfire size. Temperature variables did not have significant relationships with wildfire size categories. Additionally, we found that most of the largest wildfires occurred in January and December. This information can be used to adjust and improve current wildfire danger models and predictive abilities. We define conditions under which firefighters should be on high alert with hopes of improving their ability to expediently manage rangeland wildfires.
ISSN:1550-7424
1551-5028
1551-5028
DOI:10.2111/REM-D-09-00132.1