Pacific Southwest Research Station

Improving meteorological data and forecasts for prescribed fire burn day decisions for the Lake Tahoe Basin

Principal Investigators:
Tim Brown, Desert Research Institute
Sim Larkin, USDA Forest Service-Pacific Northwest Research Station

Proposal [pdf]

Final Report [pdf]

Please contact Dr. Tim Brown with questions regarding the final report.

Project Summary

The project was developed in response to identified needs of improved meteorological information for burn day decisions after consultation with the USDA Forest Service (USFS)-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, California Air Resources Board, and USFS Predictive Services personnel. The products and deliverables from this project for the Lake Tahoe Basin include:

1. A 300-m gridded climatology of surface wind.
2. A 4-km mixing height climatology with associated transport wind.
3. 400-m resolution gridded operational forecasts of surface wind.
4. New weather station observations during the project period for an elevation transect within the Tahoe Basin.
5. A customized smoke prediction website tool.

These deliverables were developed from a suite of existing tools including the operational California and Nevada Smoke and Air Committee (CANSAC) forecast system at the Desert Research Institute, the Bluesky smoke prediction framework, WindNinja, and field weather instruments.