Selecting a Weather Station (NTFB)

Unlike Basic (BFB) and Short Term (STFB) Fire Behavior, Near-Term Fire Behavior (NTFB) models fire progression based on changing weather and wind conditions over time. The source of the data used to run the model depends on whether you are modeling fire behavior for time periods in the past or the future.

The weather station you select for NTFB provides historic WIMS (RAWS) data for modeling periods prior to the current clock hour. Selecting a weather station for NTFB has the greatest impact on outputs when you are modeling for a period in the past. The WIMS data conditions the  fuels as well as generates the wind and weather streams. No forecasted data is used in this scenario and the weather station you select will drive the fire behavior outputs. If you model fire behavior into the future, forecasted weather data is pulled (based on the selected RAWS location) from the gridded National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Data. The weather station you select will condition fuels for the period of modeling that occurs in the past. In this scenario, a combination of WIMS data and NWS Forecast Data drive the fire behavior outputs

Multiple weather stations are available to provide wind and weather data for NTFB and those listed are generally within 1 degree of latitude and longitude of the entered incident latitude and longitude. The closest station (based on a formula for distance and elevation) that is currently reporting observations is the first displayed station. If a station does not have a recorded daily Obs (1200 or 1300 Obs whichever is designated for that station) for three days in WIMS, the station is no longer available in the drop-down list until those Obs are in WIMS.

To select a Weather Station (BFB & STFB, NTFB)

1. Navigate to the analysis you want to select a weather station for and select it from the Analysis List.
2. Locate the Station Information section of the analysis by:
   1. Clicking View Information > scroll to the bottom of the General Information section in the right window pane.
   2. From within an analysis, click (Model) Information in the left window pane >scroll to the bottom of the General Information section in the right window pane.
3. Click the drop-down arrow beside the Station field, and select a weather station from the list. The weather station information populates for the selected station.
4. Click Save. The weather station and associated station information is saved.

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Last updated on 2/16/2023 1:55:18 PM.

In This Section Selecting a Weather Station for Fire Behavior Analysis

See Also Selecting a Weather Station (BFB & STFB) Selecting Weather Stations for FSPro

Reference Field Descriptions Glossary Resources Spatial Data Reference Landscape Data Source Reference Relative Risk Reference Organization Assessment Reference Fire Behavior Reference About the WFDSS Decision Editors