CAN Historical Prescribed Burn Windows for the Southeast United States 1950-1999

Publication Date

2021-09-20

Start Date

1950

End Date

1999

Kupfer, J.A., Terando, A.J., Gao, P., and Tirpak, B.E., 2021, Historical and Future Prescribed Burn Windows for the Southeast United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P95BV7GE.

Prescribed fire is a critical tool for managing wildfire risks and meeting ecological objectives, but its safe and effective application requires that specific meteorological criteria (i.e., a 'burn window') are met. Given climate change projections and projected changes in key environmental factors that constrain prescribed burning, it is clear that predicting the future of fire will require a better understanding of whether environmental criteria defined by managers who conduct prescribed fires can still be met. Gaining this understanding is especially important because the use of prescribed fire is now so widespread in the United States that the total area burned annually by prescribed fires often exceeds that burned by wildfires. This dataset assesses how opportunities for prescribed burning would be influenced by projected changes in climate with a focus on the southeastern U.S. The dataset models historic conditions as multi-year averages for each month by decade by GCM for 1950-1999.

ScienceBase WMS

ScienceBase WCS

• National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers
• Southeast CASC

Data source

Input directly