NWS Jackson, MS Fire Weather Forecast Preparation

Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

Forecast Preparation

A fire weather forecast supplements the public zone forecasts. The region is divided into 8 climatologically homogeneous zones for forestry forecast purposes. The forestry forecast parameters are determined by our state and federal agency customers in the region.

Our fire weather forecasts serves primarily the following regional agencies:

United States Forest Service of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi
Louisiana Deparment of Forestry
Arkansas Forestry Commission
Mississippi Forestry Commission
National Park Service of the Natchez Trace and Southeast Mississippi
Regional Wildlife Refuges of the Fish and Wildlife Service

The normal Fire Danger season occurs from October through May. Ongoing site preparation and forest management continues throughout the year though. The Fire Weather Forecast is issued twice a day - once in the morning by 8 am and again in the afternoon by 4 pm.

The Fire Weather Forecast is prepared each day by the public forecaster using the latest available weather information. The morning forecast is made for three periods: Today, Tonight, and Tomorrow. The afternoon forecast is made for four periods: Tonight, Tommorrow, Tomorrow Night, and the next day. The extended forecast is available for each zone with surface winds up to seven days. The forecast parameters describe average conditions throughout each zone.

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