Jonuta fire, May 2026 Jonuta
The fire started on 23 May 2026 in Jonuta, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,585 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 31th largest in Tabasco since 2016 (of 40 with a page). Number 128 in Mexico in 2026, of 145.
The power measured by the satellite is low (15.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 1,585ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 23 May 2026 – 24 May 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 May
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 33
- in a single hotspot: 15 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 164MW
- 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 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.9 mm on 25 May.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 678 ha in 2016, 133 ha in 2018, 217 ha in 2020, 205 ha in 2023, 223 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,152 ha that had burned before.
- 217 ha Carmen fire, April 2020 3,054 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 205 ha Palizada fire, June 2023 2,879 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Jonuta fire, May 2016 1,838 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Jonuta where it started1,596 ha reached on 22 May1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 May | 37.2 °C | 46 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 24 May | 35.3 °C | 50 % | 41 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 29 |
| 25 May after | 35.6 °C | 48 % | 34 km/h | 6.9 mm | Low 8 |
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 25 May 2026 the air beside the fire reached 44 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily 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 · 33Every 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 Jonuta fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 May 2026 and 24 May 2026: 2 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 1,585 hectares (15.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Jonuta (1,596 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 46 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class 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.
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.
Emergency number: 911
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 (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.