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Ometepec fire, April 2022 Tlacoachistlahuaca, Ometepec

Out · last detection 3 May 2022, 20:32 UTC

The fire started on 27 April 2022 in Ometepec, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,505 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 300th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 102 in Mexico in 2022, of 235.

Burnt area
2,505ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
27 Apr 2022 – 3 May 2022
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
27 Apr
2022
Heat detections
70
in a single hotspot: 81 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
964MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

3 May 2022
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Apr3 May

How it evolved, day by day

2728293013

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
43km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

51% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,271 ha in 2019.

What happened to each town

  1. Tlacoachistlahuaca
    1,764 ha reached on 27 Apr
    2.2 %
  2. Ometepec where it started
    754 ha reached on 27 Apr
    1.2 %

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)
27 Apr 37.0 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm High 34
28 Apr 37.0 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.9 mm High 32
29 Apr 36.7 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Apr 37.0 °C 29 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 May 36.3 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
2 May 36.3 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 May 35.7 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 May after 38.3 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 May after 36.5 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 May after 36.3 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 May after 37.1 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 May after 37.1 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 May after 35.9 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 May after 36.3 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 May after 36.2 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.6 mm High 32
12 May after 37.2 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm High 37
13 May after 37.4 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.7 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 20 Apr 2022
After · 10 May 2022

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 70Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mexico ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ometepec fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 April 2022 and 3 May 2022: 7 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 2,505 hectares (25.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tlacoachistlahuaca (1,764 ha, 2.2 %); Ometepec (754 ha, 1.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.

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.

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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911.

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.