Under construction.
Week |
Tuesday 2025 |
Thursday 2025 See the links below. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 Sep (UBC Imagine Day. No Tuesday undergrad classes.) |
4 Sep. (link to Thursday week 01 Lect. Notes) Intro: Indigenous; significant fires, types of burns, WUI |
| 2 | 9 Sep. Analysis methods for weather charts. | 11 Sep (link to Thursday week 02 Lect. Notes) Sources of Fire Info: FIRMS, GWIS, CIFFC, NIFC, BlueSky. |
| 3 | 16 Sep. Types of weather charts: surface, upper air, cross sections. Observations: METARS. | 18 Sep (link to Thursday week 03 Lect. Notes) Fire behavior: fuels, moisture, wind, slope. |
| 4 | 23 Sep. Weather satellite imagery &interpretation. Satellites & orbits. Channels. Fire hot-spot detection. Sensors for lightning & drought. | 25 Sep (link to Thursday week 04 Lect. Notes) Antecedent conditions. Ignition sources. Fire danger rating systems. FWI Intro. |
| 5 | 30 Sep. (Truth & Reconcilation Day. No classes.) |
2 Oct Tuesday week 05 topics are covered during Thursday this week. Weather radar image interpretation: reflectivity, Doppler velocity, polarimetric. |
| 6 | 7 Oct. Atmospheric soundings, tephigrams, hodographs, stability & convection. | 9 Oct (link to Thursday week 05 Lect. Notes) FWI: Fire weather index system. |
| 7 | 14 Oct. Extratropical (mid-latitude) cyclones. | 16 Oct - Double Feature First hour: FBP: Fire behavior prediction system. (link to Thursday week 06 Lect. Notes) Second hour: guest lecture by Mina Deshler on Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). (Also possibly team -building methods.) |
| 8 | 21 Oct. Fronts and airmasses. | 23 Oct - Double Feature • First 50 minutes - Midterm Exam (tips) • Last 50 minutes - Case Study: High Level, AB, fire. 2019 . (link to Thursday Lect. Notes for High Level fire) |
| 9 | 28 Oct. Effect of temperature, humidity, & clouds on fires. | 30 Oct Also, in preparation for your own case-study capstone presentation, view (as homework) the demo presentation video for the Case Study: Sparks Lake, BC fire in 2021, as presented by Jalena Bennett. |
| 10 | 4 Nov. Convective storms (thunderstorms). | 6 Nov - Double Feature Palisades Fire, CA - Capstone Presentation. Jasper, AB . - Capstone Presentation. |
| 11 | 11 Nov. (Fall break. No Tuesday classes.) |
13 Nov - Double Feature First hour: Quebec Complex Fires - Capstone Presentation. Second hour: Guest lecture by Dr. Chris Rodell, Meteorological Analyst at Technosylva, studying fire risk and fire behavior modeling. If he is unable to come, then video and lab on the Paradise fire (link to Paradise Fire lecture notes.) |
| 12 | 18 Nov. First hour: Fort McMurray, AB - Capstone Presentation. Second hour: Guest lecture by Matt MacDonald - BC Wildfire Service lead forecaster: On the forecast process at the BC Wildfire Service. |
20 Nov - Double Feature Camp Fire (Paradise, CA) - Capstone Presentation. Marshall, CO . - Capstone Presentation. |
| 13 | 25 Nov.
Weather Forecasting . Double feature: First hour: Doug McCollor: Nowcasting, short-range, & medium range forecasting. Second hour: Lynn Engel: How to use modern tools on the internet to make forecasts |
27 Nov - Double Feature 1) Overview of Numerical weather prediction (NWP), by Stull. (link to Thursday NWP Lect. Notes) 2) Guest lecture by Liam Buchart on Indigenous wildfire and forest issues. (link to his slides and video [98MB] ) |
| 14 | 2 Dec. Climate Change vs. Wildfires. | 4 Dec - Double Feature Second hour: Regional flows, pyrocb, pyrotornadoes. |
| Final Exam, as will be scheduled by UBC | ||
Schedules and fire cases from past years: 2023 , 2024 , 2025 , 2026