Chobe fire, 15 May 2024 Chobe
The fire started on 15 May 2024 in Chobe, Botswana, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,422 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 78th largest in Chobe since 2016 (of 129 with a page). Number 36 in Botswana in 2024, of 73.
- Burnt area
- 3,422ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 15 May 2024 – 17 May 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 15 May
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 105
- in a single hotspot: 40 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,082 ha in 2016, 1,324 ha in 2017, 1,045 ha in 2018, 2,459 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,322 ha that had burned before.
- 2,459 ha Chobe fire, September 2022 106,342 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 998 ha Chobe fire, September 2018 11,387 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 144 ha Chobe fire, September 2016 27,106 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Chobe where it started3,432 ha reached on 15 May0.2 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May | 27.4 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 16 May | 27.9 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 May | 28.2 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 18 May after | 29.2 °C | 10 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 19 May after | 28.9 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 20 May after | 27.6 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 21 May after | 27.6 °C | 24 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 22 May after | 26.7 °C | 24 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 23 May after | 27.7 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 24 May after | 27.9 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 May after | 27.8 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 26 May after | 28.0 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 May after | 27.3 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 18 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 105Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Chobe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 May 2024 and 17 May 2024: 3 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,422 hectares (34.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Chobe (3,432 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.2 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Botswana (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
Satellite cross-check
Does something look wrong on this page?
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
Report an error
Where this data comes from
The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.