Terras de Bouro fire, February 2023
Valdosende, União das Freguesias de Chorense e Monte
Out · last detection 7 Feb 2023, 03:22 UTC
The fire started on 6 February 2023 in Valdosende, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 172 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 freguesias. According to ICNF, it was detected on 6 February 2023 at 19:36 and declared extinguished on 7 February 2023.
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
14.8°C · 36% RH
High of 14.8 °C and minimum humidity of 36% on 6 February 2023; gusts of 42 km/h on 6 February 2023.
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
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official ICNF record
Matches: 197 ha in the official record (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
Burnt area inside each freguesia, from crossing the official 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.
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)
6 Feb
14.8 °C
36 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 6
7 Feb
12.1 °C
37 %
37 km/h
0.4 mm
Low 7
8 Feb after
12.2 °C
44 %
48 km/h
0.1 mm
Low 9
9 Feb after
13.2 °C
38 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 7
10 Feb after
12.2 °C
36 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 8
11 Feb after
12.2 °C
33 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 8
12 Feb after
12.3 °C
41 %
36 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 8
13 Feb after
14.7 °C
44 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 7
14 Feb after
15.2 °C
42 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 8
15 Feb after
16.9 °C
38 %
27 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 7
16 Feb after
17.3 °C
39 %
24 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 7
17 Feb after
18.7 °C
22 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Moderate 12
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 5.6, a minimum humidity of 36% and 17 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 20.
FWI at the start5.6
Minimum humidity36 %
Days without rain17
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Terras de Bouro fire, February 2023
172 ha2 daysFWI 5.6Min. humidity 36 %
Montalegre fire, January 2022
120 ha2 daysFWI 5.9Min. humidity 36 %23 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
It burned an area similar to its twins (172 ha against a median of 160 ha) and lasted 2 days, against 2 days.
In 4 of 20, 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 3.6 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
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
42km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 7 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 20, with a median of 3.6 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.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 30 Jan 2023
After · 14 Feb 2023
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · Copernicus
On 7 February 2023 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak26µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1039µg/m³
Optical depth0.25
WHO 15
5 Feb7 Feb9 Feb
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely poor
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· 14Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 February 2023 to 7 February 2023 (2 days). The perimeter dates it from 7 February 2023 to 7 February 2023. According to ICNF, it was detected on 6 February 2023 at 19:36 and declared extinguished on 7 February 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 172 hectares (1.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which freguesias burned?
The fire entered 2 freguesias: Valdosende (159 ha, 13 %); União das Freguesias de Chorense e Monte (13 ha, 0.7 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Valdosende and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 14.8 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 7, class Low.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Portugal (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: 20. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 160 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. In 4 of 20, 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 3.6 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: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 7 February 2023 to 7 February 2023. 14 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with ICNF: 197 official ha against 172 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
The perimeter and land cover come from the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), measured on MODIS and Sentinel-2 imagery and published under CC BY 4.0. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Freguesia boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). The area per freguesia is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from each country’s official figure.