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What weather do fires in Namibia start in?

How many of the fires in Namibia between 2016 and 2025, and how much of the area they burned, started with extreme FWI, strong wind, very dry air or after 60 days without rain. Based on the weather on each fire’s start day.

Extreme FWI

Fire Weather Index (FWI) of 50 or more on the start day: the “extreme” and “very extreme” classes of the European EFFIS scale.

We are recalculating the FWI of every fire with the real local noon; the figure will be back when it is done.

Strong wind

Gusts of 50 km/h or more on the start day (a gale, Beaufort force 7).

From 2016 to 2025, 6.8 % of the fires in Namibia started with gusts of 50 km/h or more and burned 5.3 % of the area.

Today: 2 of 14 regions Open the page

Very dry air

Minimum relative humidity below 15% on the start day.

From 2016 to 2025, 80 % of the fires in Namibia started with air humidity below 15% and burned 81 % of the area.

Today: 5 of 14 regions Open the page

60 days without rain

At least 60 days in a row without 1 mm of rain before the start day.

From 2016 to 2025, 86 % of the fires in Namibia started after 60 days or more without rain and burned 88 % of the area.

Today: 0 of 14 regions Open the page

How to read these figures

Each figure compares two shares: how many fires started in that condition and how much of the area they burned. If the second is larger, those fires were bigger than the rest. A fire can meet several conditions at once. These are statistics about the past, not a forecast.

This is not an official warning.

Check the warnings of your local civil protection or forestry authority.

Suggested citation

WorldFires, “What weather do fires in Namibia start in?”, https://worldfires.org/en/country/namibia/fire-weather (accessed 5 November 2026). Sources: Copernicus Climate Change Service, ERA5 (Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0), WorldFires (FWI, Van Wagner 1987), Copernicus GWIS, NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ECMWF IFS (Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0).

Sources: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service, ERA5 (Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0) · WorldFires (FWI, Van Wagner 1987) · Copernicus GWIS · NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) · ECMWF IFS (Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0)

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