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Xalisco fire, 20 May 2017 Xalisco, Tepic

Out · last detection 1 Jun 2017, 09:15 UTC

The fire started on 20 May 2017 in Xalisco, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,610 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 35th largest in Nayarit since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 76 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.

Burnt area
4,610ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
20 May 2017 – 31 May 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
20 May
2017
Heat detections
291
in a single hotspot: 55 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
2.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Jun 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 May31 May

How it evolved, day by day

2021222324252627282930311

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

The weather it burned in

22°high
39km/h · peak gust
45%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 12 Jun.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Xalisco 65,229 inhabitants where it started
    3,322 ha reached on 20 May
    6.6 %
  2. Tepic 425,924 inhabitants
    1,311 ha reached on 26 May
    0.8 %

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 20 May 2017 and burned 1,964 ha (the satellite measured 4,610 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

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)
20 May 20.6 °C 53 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 May 20.9 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
22 May 20.6 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
23 May 21.1 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
24 May 20.9 °C 50 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
25 May 20.3 °C 53 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 May 20.9 °C 46 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
27 May 21.7 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
28 May 21.0 °C 45 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 May 20.8 °C 46 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
30 May 22.1 °C 47 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
31 May 21.4 °C 53 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Jun after 21.4 °C 48 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
2 Jun after 21.7 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Jun after 21.2 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
4 Jun after 21.0 °C 51 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
5 Jun after 21.3 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
6 Jun after 21.0 °C 47 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Jun after 20.1 °C 63 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
8 Jun after 21.5 °C 58 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
9 Jun after 22.2 °C 53 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
10 Jun after 21.5 °C 55 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
11 Jun after 21.2 °C 56 % 38 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 18
12 Jun after 21.7 °C 56 % 40 km/h 1.4 mm Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 May 2017
After · 7 Jun 2017

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 · 291Every 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 Xalisco fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 May 2017 and 31 May 2017: 12 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 4,610 hectares (46.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Xalisco (3,322 ha, 6.6 %); Tepic (1,311 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 22.1 °C, humidity dropped to 45 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 21, class Moderate.
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
What do you think is wrong?

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.