Tepic fire, May 2022 Tepic, Santa María del Oro
The fire started on 5 May 2022 in Tepic, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,639 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 34th largest in Nayarit since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 31 in Mexico in 2022, of 235.
- Burnt area
- 4,639ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 5 May 2022 – 13 May 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 5 May
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 272
- in a single hotspot: 94 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.3GW
- 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 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,728 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
2,459 ha reached on 5 May1.5 %
-
2,202 ha reached on 7 May2.0 %
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.
Official record
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 5 May 2022 and burned 3,301 ha (the satellite measured 4,639 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Tepic Cerro de Sanganguey 5 May 2022 3,301 ha · extinguished on 15 May 2022 · cause: negligence
CONAFOR (Comisión Nacional Forestal), estadística de incendios forestales en datos.gob.mx (CC BY 4.0). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 May | 27.0 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 May | 28.0 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 7 May | 26.5 °C | 39 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 May | 26.5 °C | 35 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 9 May | 28.3 °C | 33 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 10 May | 27.7 °C | 40 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 May | 27.5 °C | 44 % | 42 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 29 |
| 12 May | 30.2 °C | 38 % | 38 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 26 |
| 13 May | 26.6 °C | 48 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 14 May after | 26.4 °C | 45 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 15 May after | 27.6 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 16 May after | 26.7 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 17 May after | 25.6 °C | 43 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 18 May after | 26.6 °C | 36 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 19 May after | 26.1 °C | 38 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 20 May after | 25.9 °C | 39 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 21 May after | 26.9 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 22 May after | 26.9 °C | 38 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 23 May after | 25.7 °C | 41 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
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.
Detections table · 272Every 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 Tepic fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 May 2022 and 13 May 2022: 9 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 4,639 hectares (46.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tepic (2,459 ha, 1.5 %); Santa María del Oro (2,202 ha, 2.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.2 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.