Zapotlán del Rey fire, April 2017
Zapotlán del Rey, Juanacatlán
Out · last detection 17 Apr 2017, 08:19 UTC
The fire started on 7 April 2017 in Zapotlán del Rey, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,466 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 121th largest in Jalisco since 2016 (of 267 with a page). Number 174 in Mexico in 2017, of 374.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
2,466ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page2,466CONAFOR1,363
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
7 Apr 2017 – 17 Apr 2017
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 1,363 ha (matched records: 2). Difference between the page and the official record: +80.9%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
11days
7 Apr 2017 to 17 Apr 2017: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 17 Apr 2017, 08:19 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
7 Apr 2017
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
7 Apr 2017
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
106
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 62 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
7 Apr 2017 – 17 Apr 2017
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
513MW
Total radiative power on 11 April 2017; hotspots that day: 27.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
11 Apr 2017
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
29.7FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 11.
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
28.5°C · 14% RH
High of 28.5 °C and minimum humidity of 14% on 10 April 2017; gusts of 42 km/h on 16 April 2017.
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 CONAFOR record
Nearby records with very different figures: 1,363 ha (records: 2).
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 municipality, from crossing the GWIS 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.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2015
Built-up area0.15ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.15 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
According to CONAFOR, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 1,363 ha (the satellite measured 2,466 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
CONAFOR records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.
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)
7 Apr
28.4 °C
16 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
8 Apr
28.2 °C
10 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 39
9 Apr
27.7 °C
14 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
10 Apr
28.5 °C
14 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
11 Apr
27.7 °C
17 %
29 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
12 Apr
27.0 °C
20 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 27
13 Apr
27.0 °C
15 %
31 km/h
0.0 mm
High 27
14 Apr
27.3 °C
12 %
36 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
15 Apr
26.9 °C
19 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 31
16 Apr
27.4 °C
17 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
17 Apr
25.7 °C
17 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 38
18 Apr after
26.0 °C
12 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 33
19 Apr after
25.8 °C
18 %
23 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
20 Apr after
27.4 °C
19 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
21 Apr after
27.3 °C
22 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 33
22 Apr after
28.9 °C
16 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 31
23 Apr after
27.5 °C
16 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
24 Apr after
26.4 °C
24 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
25 Apr after
25.3 °C
23 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 39
26 Apr after
26.7 °C
15 %
39 km/h
0.0 mm
Extreme 51
27 Apr after
27.5 °C
15 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 41
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 29.7, a minimum humidity of 16% and 11 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 19.
FWI at the start29.7
Minimum humidity16 %
Days without rain11
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Zapotlán del Rey fire, April 2017
2,466 ha11 daysFWI 29.7Min. humidity 16 %
Zapotlán del Rey fire, April 2016
1,789 ha13 daysFWI 27.1Min. humidity 15 %1 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.5 mm on 20 Apr.
It burned an area similar to its twins (2,466 ha against a median of 1,834 ha) and lasted 11 days, against 10 days.
In 5 of 19, 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 2.2 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 17 Apr, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 19, with a median of 2.2 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.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 7 April 2017 to 17 April 2017 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 April 2017 to 17 April 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,466 hectares (24.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Zapotlán del Rey (2,099 ha, 5.2 %); Juanacatlán (379 ha, 2.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.
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: 19. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 1,834 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 5 of 19, 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 2.2 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: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 10 April 2017 to 17 April 2017. 106 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 1,363 official ha against 2,466 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.