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Climate of 2004 Wildfire Season Summary National Climatic Data Center, Last Updated - 13 December 2004

Season Summary

Year-to-Date fire detections across Alaska and the Yukon - 30 November 2004 from MODIS Year-to-Date fire detections across the Western U.S. - 30 November 2004 from MODIS

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildland fires in 2004 had consumed over 8 million acres across the U.S. as of early December, which was well above the 10-year average of over 5.5 million acres. By far the majority of this year's fire activity in the U.S. occurred in Alaska, which had over 6.6 million acres consumed across the state this year, making the 2004 fire season the worst on record for Alaska for acreage burned. Extensive fire activity also occurred in the adjacent Yukon territory of Canada, where over 1.8 million hectares (over 4.5 million acres) had burned as of the end of September (as reported by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center-CIFFC). Across the contiguous U.S., the fire season was well-below average with just over 1.4 million acres burned in 2004. Fire activity dimished significantly during the fall, with only a few large fires reported during November. By the end of November there were no large fires reported to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC), and only minimal small fire activity was reported across the entire country. Dead fuel moisture levels improved significantly during November, as a series of fall storms moved across the western U.S. Significant snowfall was measured in the Sierra Nevada, Wasatch and the southern and central Rocky Mountains, bringing snow pack in the western U.S. to above normal in many locations based on snow water equivalent measurements at snotel sites.

These Pacific storm systems in late October and November brought well-needed relief to the long-term drought conditions in the Great Basin and southwestern U.S. By early December, the moisture conditions of fine-fuels (i.e. 10-hour fuels) were much improved across the Great Basin and southwestern states. However, moderate to severe drought conditions remained over portions of the Northern Rockies, mainly in Montana and Wyoming, and fine fuel moisture remained very dry across the Front Range region in Colorado, as well as the high plains of Nebraska and Kansas. Medium to larger fuels (i.e. 100-hr and 1000-hr fuels) had improved significantly across most of the western U.S. in November. The moisture content of 1000-hr fuels were above 15% over a broad region of the West, with parts of Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho exceeding 30%. By early December, fire danger classification remained high in only a few areas, primarily in northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska.

Year-to-date (January-early December) wildfire statistics (from NIFC): As of December 3, 2004 Nationwide Number of Fires Nationwide Number of Acres Burned 2004 64,488 8,077,514 2003 63,629 3,960,842 2002 73,457 7,184,712 Ten-year Average (1995-2004) 74,485 5,531,387 Fire Danger Class map from 8 December 2004

October

Mosaic of active fire detections on 25 October 2004 from MODIS Burned areas in Alaska and the Yukon as of October 31, 2004 from MODIS

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildland fires in 2004 have consumed over 8 million acres across the U.S. as of the end of October, which was well above the year-to-date average of over 4.3 million acres. Most of this year's fire activity occurred in Alaska during June and July, and by the end of October over 6.6 million acres were blackened across the state. This made the 2004 fire season the worst on record for Alaska. Fire activity was generally light across the U.S. in October. The fires that were reported occurred mainly in central California, where the Rumsey fire burned during the middle of the month. Several large fires burned in Virgina as well during the month, as can be seen on NOAA AVHRR imagery from 13 October 2004. Long-term drought conditions continued across much of the western U.S., although there was some significant drought relief during the month as a series of fall storms moved across the region.

Dead fuel moisture levels improved during the latter half of the month as moisture from several large Pacific storms brought precipitation to the mountains, with significant snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, Wasatch and the southern and central Rocky Mountains. By early November, fine-fuels (i.e. 10-hour fuels) remained very dry across the Front Range region in Colorado and New Mexico, with improved conditions across the southwestern states. Medium to larger fuels (i.e. 100-hr and 1000-hr fuels) had improved significantly across the region in October, with the moisture content of 1000-hr fuels above 15% over a broad region of the West, with large fuels in parts of Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho and New Mexico exceeding 30%. At the end of October, fire danger remained high in only a few areas, mainly in southern and central New Mexico.

Year-to-date (January-September) wildfire statistics (from NIFC): As of October 31, 2004 Nationwide Number of Fires Nationwide Number of Acres Burned 2004 63,047 8,044,834 2003 56,036 3,511,752 2002 69,413 6,684,556 Nine-year Average (1996-2004) 75,319 4,320,285 Fire Danger Class map from 31 October 2004

September

Loop of large fire locations in September MODIS Active Fire Detections in Alaska and the Yukon on September 30, 2004

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildland fires in 2004 have consumed over 7.7 million acres across the U.S. as of the end of September. However, wildfire activity decreased dramatically this month. In particular, activity diminished across Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. By the end of the month there was only one active fire which was located in Oregon, the Peter French Fire. The large fire activity that occurred in central and eastern Alaska last month left large burn scars that are visible in satellite imagery across areas to the north and east of Fairbanks (as well as in the adjacent Yukon Territory of Canada).

Short- and long-term drought conditions continued across a large portion of the western U.S. in September. The record and near-record dry conditions throughout the West have contributed to extremely low dead fuel moisture levels. As of the end of September, the moisture levels of live fuels remained very dry across the intermountain West and the Great Basin. Medium to larger fuels (i.e. 100-hr and 1000-hr) were extremely dry across the region, with 1000-hr fuels below 5% over western areas of Nevada, far eastern California, southwestern Arizona and a small section in southwestern Oregon. At the end of September, fire danger remained very high in few places, an area along the California, Arizona boarder and another small area in north-central Washington. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a widely used index for fire risk, had the largest potential for fire activity in the contiguous U.S. over the majority of California, along the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Also, areas from the southern Plains to the middle Mississippi Valley, as well as along the Gulf of Mexico coast had increased potential for fire development.

Year-to-date (January-September) wildfire statistics (from NIFC): As of September 30, 2004 Nationwide Number of Fires Nationwide Number of Acres Burned 2004 62,088 7,784,277 2003 50,626 3,180,770 2002 68,397 6,715,197 10-year Average (1994-2004) 69,154 3,945,507 Keetch-Byram Drought Index map from 30 September 2004

August

Loop of large fire locations in August MODIS Active Fire Detections in Alaska and the Yukon on August 31, 2004

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildland fires in 2004 have consumed over 7.3 million acres across the U.S. as of the end of August. The vast majority of the burned areas occurred in Alaska, where over 6.14 million acres had burned by the end of the month, which was a new all-time record for the state. Of these, over 1.7 million acres burned during August. The most significant of the large fire activity has occurred in central and eastern Alaska (as well as in the adjacent Yukon Territory of Canada), and large burn scars are now visible in satellite imagery across areas to the north and east of Fairbanks. Problems with smoke also continued in August, as particulate matter (PM) emissions from the Alaskan fires spread over a large region of the U.S. and Canadian arctic. Northern California had several large fires during August, as areas northwest of Redding burned. The largest of these was the French Fire, which burned near Frenchtown and Weaverville, CA during the middle of the month.

Short- and long-term drought conditions continued across a large portion of the western U.S. in August. The record and near-record dry conditions throughout the West have contributed to extremely low dead fuel moisture levels. As of the end of August, the moisture levels of live fuels remained very dry across the intermountain West and the Great Basin. Medium to larger fuels (i.e. 100-hr and 1000-hr) were extremely dry across the region, with 1000-hr fuels below 5% over most of California, Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado. At the end of August, the fire danger remained very high across the West, with extreme fire danger across parts of the northern Great Basin. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a widely used index for fire risk, had the largest potential for fire activity in the contiguous U.S. across northern California, and along the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California and the western Great Basin. Areas of the southern Plains and along the Gulf of Mexico coast also had increased potential for large fire development.

Year-to-date (January-August) wildfire statistics (from NIFC): As of August 31, 2004 Nationwide Number of Fires Nationwide Number of Acres Burned 2004 55,044 7,381,166 2003 44,823 2,695,156 2002 62,549 6,334,283 10-year Average (1994-2004) 61,229 3,193,463 Keetch-Byram Drought Index map from 31 August 2004

July

MODIS Image of Fires and Smoke across Alaska on 1 July 2004 MODIS Active Fire Detections in Alaska and the Yukon

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildland fires in 2004 consumed over 5.4 million acres across the U.S. as of the end of July. Fire activity in Alaska increased dramatically during late June and early July, burning over 3.4 million acres by the end of the month. An additional 400,000 acres were blackened across the remainder of the contiguous U.S. in July. The most significant of the large fire activity occurred in central and eastern Alaska (as well as in the adjacent Yukon Territory of Canada). Fire activity in the state decreased towards the end of July, as the region began to experience some much needed precipitation. However, the two largest fires in Alaska (the Taylor Highway Complex, and the Boundary Fire) continued to burn into August. Since the fire activity broke out in mid-June, smoke emissions from the Alaskan fires have spread over Canada and the U.S. Long-range transport of smoke from the Alaskan fires has been observed as far east as the northeast coast of the U.S. and as far south as Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico coast. The Pacific Northwest also had several large fires during July, as areas east of the Cascade Mountains have experienced a significant increase in fire activity. Several large fires were also observed in southern California during the middle of the month.

Both short- and long-term drought conditions have continued to affect a large portion of the western U.S. The record and near-record dry conditions throughout the West have contributed to extremely low dead fuel moisture levels. As of the end of July, fine fuels remained very dry across the intermountain West and the Great Basin, with 10-hr fuel moistures only 1-2% from the High Plains to the Pacific Coast. Medium to larger fuels (i.e. 100-hr and 1000-hr) also continued to be extremely dry across the region, with 1000-hr fuels below 5% over most of California, the Great Basin, and the Columbia Plateau. At the end of July, the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a widely used index for fire risk, had the largest potential for fire activity in the contiguous U.S. across California and the Pacific Northwest. Areas of the southern Plains also had increased potential for large fire development. In addition, most of the western U.S. had an increased potential for ignitions from lightning, with the Lightning Ignition Efficiency above 30% across a large region from the Cascades to the Rocky Mountains.

Large Fire Map from 31 July 2004 Year-to-date (January 1 - July 31) wildfire statistics (from NIFC): As of July 31, 2004 Nationwide Number of Fires Nationwide Number of Acres Burned 2004 47,650 5,495,416 2003 36,301 1,822,974 2002 53,070 4,258,849 10-year Average 53,111 2,343,447

June

AVHRR imagery of fires and smoke in Alaska and the Yukon on 25 June 2004 at 16:25 UTC AVHRR imagery of heat signatures in Alaska and the Yukon on 28 June 2004 at 21:25 UTC

As reported by the National Interagency Fire Center, fire activity across the U.S. increased substantially during June. By the end of the month, over 1.6 million acres had burned across the U.S. The most significant of the large fire activity occurred in central and eastern Alaska (as well as in the adjacent Yukon Territory of Canada), where numerous fires continued to burn into July. As of mid-July, over 2.4 million acres had burned across Alaska alone, with most of the fire activity occurring in areas east of Fairbanks. A thick pall of smoke over the region has affected the area for many weeks. Air quality levels from fine particulates (PM 2.5) reached the hazardous category over a large portion of the state. Prior to June, during the pre-season as well as in May, fire activity had been slightly below average across the U.S. However, by the end of June the situation had changed dramatically, primarily due to the development and persistence of fire activity in Alaska.

May

1 km MODIS image of fires in Arizona and New Mexico on 24 May 2004 at 20:45 UTC

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, fire activity across the U.S. has been slightly below average as of the end of May. The fire season typically begins on May 1st and runs through the end of October. However, the pre-season and early-season are often active, as can be seen in the year-to-date statistics in the table below. In May, several large fires were ignited by lightning in the Southwest, with the largest of these being the KP fire in Arizona and the Peppin fire in New Mexico. MODIS imagery to the left shows these two large fires on May 24th. NOAA's AVHRR satellite imagery also shows the actively burning areas and smoke plumes from these two fires, which continued to burn into the first part of June. Large fire activity in May also occurred in Southern California, Nevada and parts of Florida.

Pre-Season

1 km MODIS image of fires in Southern California on 05/04/04 at 21 :05 UTC

Fire activity began early this year across parts of the Midwest, High Plains, and in Southern California according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fire season typically begins on May 1st and runs through the end of October. However, the pre-season is often active, as can be seen in the year-to-date statistics below. In April, a large fire was suppressed in northern Colorado early in the month, and several large fires have been reported in Minnesota and parts of the upper-Midwest as well. The majority of large fire activity in April occurred in Southern California, and this activity has continued into early May, as seen in the MODIS image to the left.

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