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Weather Variables Affecting Oklahoma Wildfires
Author
Reid, Angela M.
Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.
Weir, John R.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2010-09-01
Body

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.  The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2111/REM-D-09-00132.1
Additional Information
Reid, A. M., Fuhlendorf, S. D., & Weir, J. R. (2010). Weather variables affecting Oklahoma wildfires. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 63(5), 599-603.
ISSN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/642824
Journal Volume
63
Journal Number
5
Journal Pages
599-603
Collection
Rangeland Ecology & Management (REM)
Journal Name
Rangeland Ecology & Management
Keywords
climatic conditions
fire size
precipitation
relative humidity
temporal distribution
wind speed