Backbone Fire Weather

 Weather conditions shape fire behaviors of any given wild land incident.  We will pay close and ongoing attention to The Backbone Fire Weather.  As of Friday morning, June 18, several key factors will influence Backbone Fire behavior.

First, of course, is temperature.  The Pine-Strawberry area recorded high temperatures in excess of 100 degrees during the past two days.  Fuel moisture is generally in the low single digits.  The Haines Index today is a 6, its highest level.  Although winds are generally light, occasional gusts have been notes into the low teens.  Meanwhile, dry thunderstorms are possible today with gusty outflow winds and potential cloud to ground lightning strikes.

The Backbone Fire is located at the interface of  "Fire Weather Zones" 118 and 137.  We have chosen to watch Zone 118 as we believe it is more representative of incident conditions.

The graphic above shows the various boundaries of Fire Weather Zones.  The red circle indicated the approx. are of concern regarding The Backbone Fire.  Below is the Friday morning NWS Flagstaff forecast for Zone 118 which is to the right of the red circle.

Here's how to access the forecasts.  First go to this page:

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/fire?wfo=fgz

Next click to zoom in on the boundary between Zones 118 and 137.  Click on the approx area of The Backbone Fire and and a detailed text forecast will appear.

You may be able to use this link in lieu of the above:

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/fire?wfo=fgz&LAT=34.3887&LON=-111.6622