The fire started on 23 May 2022 in Del Nayar, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,621 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 155th largest in Nayarit since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 206 in Mexico in 2022, of 232.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
1,621ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page1,621CONAFOR1,014
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
23 May 2022 – 29 May 2022
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 1,014 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +59.9%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
7days
23 May 2022 to 29 May 2022: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 27 May 2022, 08:31 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
23 May 2022
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
23 May 2022
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
94
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 48 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
23 May 2022 – 29 May 2022
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
157MW
Total radiative power on 26 May 2022; hotspots that day: 34.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
26 May 2022
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
38.2FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 10.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
29.1°C · 26% RH
High of 29.1 °C and minimum humidity of 26% on 26 May 2022; gusts of 52 km/h on 24 May 2022.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CONAFOR record
Nearby records with very different figures: 1,014 ha (records: 1).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
29°high
52km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity
It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 2 Jun.
This area had burned before
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 946 ha in 2016, 869 ha in 2017, 1,250 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,603 ha that had burned before.
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 24 May 2022 and burned 1,014 ha (the satellite measured 1,621 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Del NayarTierras Blancas24 May 20221,014 ha· extinguished on 27 May 2022· cause: negligence
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)
23 May
26.2 °C
24 %
43 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 38
24 May
26.3 °C
22 %
52 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 44
25 May
28.3 °C
20 %
45 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 41
26 May
29.1 °C
26 %
42 km/h
0.2 mm
Very high 42
27 May
29.0 °C
24 %
45 km/h
0.1 mm
High 33
28 May
27.7 °C
35 %
38 km/h
1.4 mm
Very high 41
29 May
26.4 °C
38 %
45 km/h
0.2 mm
High 23
30 May after
26.8 °C
35 %
45 km/h
0.6 mm
High 30
31 May after
27.6 °C
30 %
40 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
1 Jun after
26.2 °C
37 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
2 Jun after
25.4 °C
45 %
37 km/h
1.6 mm
High 31
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 38.2, a minimum humidity of 24% and 10 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 27.
FWI at the start38.2
Minimum humidity24 %
Days without rain10
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Del Nayar fire, 23 May 2022
1,621 ha7 daysFWI 38.2Min. humidity 24 %
Tepic fire, May 2021
3,712 ha15 daysFWI 39.7Min. humidity 25 %68 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 13.4 mm on 12 Jun.
It burned an area similar to its twins (1,621 ha against a median of 2,160 ha) and lasted 7 days, against 10 days.
In 8 of 27, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.9 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
1.6 mmfirst rain
2 Jun4 days after it ended
52km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 29 May, and on 2 Jun 1.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 19 of 27, with a median of 1.9 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 May 2022 to 29 May 2022 (7 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 May 2022 to 27 May 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,621 hectares (16.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Del Nayar (1,629 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.1 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mexico (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 27. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 2,160 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 8 of 27, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.9 mm.
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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 May 2022 to 27 May 2022. 94 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 1,014 official ha against 1,621 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.