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 (link to Tuesday week 05 Lect. Notes) 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 (link to Thursday week 06 Lect. Notes) FBP: Fire behavior prediction system. Also, guest lecture by Mina Deshler on Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Also team -building methods. |
| 8 | 21 Oct. Fronts and airmasses. | 23 Oct (link to Thursday week 08 Details) • First 50 minutes - Midterm Exam • Last 50 minutes - Case Study: High Level, AB, fire. 2019 . (link to Thursday week 07 Lect. Notes) |
| 9 | 28 Oct. Effect of temperature, humidity, & clouds on fires. | 30 Oct (link to Thursday week 09 Lect. Notes) Case Study: Kimiwan, AB, fire. 2023 - 2024. |
| 10 | 4 Nov. Convective storms (thunderstorms). | 6 Nov (link to Thursday week10 Lect. Notes) Case Study: Sparks Lake, BC fire. 2021 Presentation by Jalena Bennett (also serves as a demo of a capstone presentation). Also, guest lecture by Liam Buchart on Indigenous wildfire and forest issues. |
| 11 | 11 Nov. (Fall break. No Tuesday classes.) |
13 Nov (link to Thursday week11 Lect. Notes) Wildfire Smoke. |
| 12 | 18 Nov. Fort McMurray, AB - Capstone Presentation. Possibly also: Guest lecture by Matt MacDonald - BC Wildfire Service lead forecaster: On the forecast process at the BC Wildfire Service. |
20 Nov Camp Fire (Paradise, CA) - Capstone Presentation. Marshall, CO . - Capstone Presentation. |
| 13 | 25 Nov. Climate change vs. wildfires. | 27 Nov (link to Thursday week13 Lect. Notes) Numerical weather prediction (NWP). Double Feature: 1) Overview of NWP, by Stull. 2) Guest Lecture and Lab by Lynn Engel: How to use modern tools on the internet to make forecasts. |
| 14 | 2 Dec. Weather Forecasting (nowcasting, short, medium-range). | 4 Dec (link to Thursday week14 Lect. Notes) Catch-up on various topics that weren't finished (smoke, regional & slope flows, pyrocb, pyrotornadoes, etc.). Reminder of actions that you can take to be safe. Synthesis of weather, fire, and cultural issues. |
| Final Exam, as will be scheduled by UBC | ||
Schedules and fire cases from past years: 2023 , 2024 , 2025 , 2026