Nowcasting wildfire ember risk in the WUI with WindTL

The lack of consistent, accurate information on local wildfire behavior, such as gustiness of winds at wildfire fronts and ember showers is one of the most critical data gaps for wildfire managers. Atmospheric processes in the atmospheric boundary layer significantly influence the behavior of wildfires. Temporal and spatial variability of fine-scale winds at the wildfire front plays a key role in forecasting wildfire spread and spotting events. Available wind information from satellites and numerical weather prediction models does not meet the need for the temporal and spatial resolution for precise modeling of wildfires, especially the fire spread through ember dispersal within wildland-urban interfaces (WUI). The WindTL system is a cutting-edge operational wildfire ember model initialized by hyper-local winds resolved from Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) measurements in the wildfire canopy. The hyper-local winds can reveal the nearfield dynamics of the buoyant plumes of hot air, offering an unprecedented level of insight into ember spotting behavior. During Phase II, the WindTL system will be enhanced to include propagation characteristics of the fire front and a more educated estimation of the flame height using UAS imagery and fuel models and it will be tested and integrated with current providers of wildfire services.