Lephalale fire, 27 September 2022 Lephalale
The fire started on 27 September 2022 in Lephalale, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,574 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 14th largest in Limpopo since 2016 (of 213 with a page). Number 15 in South Africa in 2022, of 143.
We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.
- Burnt area
- 7,574ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 27 Sept 2022 – 28 Sept 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 27 Sept
- 2022
- Danger at start
- 65
- Extreme · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Lephalale where it started7,610 ha0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Sept | 36.9 °C | 13 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 28 Sept | 31.8 °C | 25 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 29 Sept after | 30.6 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 30 Sept after | 32.7 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 1 Oct after | 34.7 °C | 18 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 2 Oct after | 36.2 °C | 15 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 3 Oct after | 38.0 °C | 13 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 4 Oct after | 40.3 °C | 9 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 5 Oct after | 34.1 °C | 21 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 6 Oct after | 37.7 °C | 14 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 7 Oct after | 38.5 °C | 10 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 8 Oct after | 32.6 °C | 21 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
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.
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lephalale fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 September 2022 and 28 September 2022: 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 7,574 hectares (75.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Lephalale (7,610 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Africa (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: 10177 · 112
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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.