Faka-Union Fire (Southwest Florida)
The Faka-Union Fire, located in southwest Florida has burned over 9,000 acres with only 50% containment. The fire is located near the Picayune Strand State Forest. The fire started out as a ‘prescribed burn’ last weekend, but due to erratic weather conditions, started to burn out of control. The smoke and fires have caused temporary road closures in southwestern Florida, however, as of 9 March 2018, no structures have been burned. For additional information on the Faka-Union Fire, click the following link.
The latest CIRA – GeoColor loop of the fire via the CIRA-RAMMB Slider between 15-18 UTC, 9 March 2018 (shown below). Notice the elongated trail of grey/white smoke, emanating from the fire.
Below, is the latest Near-Constant Contrast (NCC) satellite imagery of the Faka-Union fire from this past week, 2-8 March 2018. NCC imagery is also known as ‘nighttime visible’ imagery, that can identify atmospheric features, and sense emitted and reflected light sources during the nighttime. All times are between 6-8 UTC. Notice the change in emitted lights from the fire (embedded in the yellow circle). The fire is close in proximity to the emitted city lights of Naples, Florida.
To get an idea of where the smoke from the fire will disperse, one can utilize the ‘experimental’ High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Smoke Model. The model had been developed to simulate emissions and the transport of smoke from wildfires. The model is at 3 kilometer spatial resolution and is initialized everyday, at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC, and the model produces 36-hour forecasts.
For the Faka-Union Fire, click on the following HRRR Smoke link, to see where the smoke from the fire is forecasted to disperse. The model animation was initialized at 12 UTC, 9 March 2018.