8.4 Refreshing the Fire Weather Agriculture Handbook 360: The New Fire Weather Handbook, A Guide for Application of Meteorological Information to Wildfire Management and Operations.

Wednesday, 3 May 2023: 4:30 PM
Scandinavian Ballroom Salon 4 (Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown )
Darren R. Clabo, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD

The original Fire Weather Agriculture Handbook 360 was published over 50 years ago and has since become the de facto fire weather training manual across the United States. Significant portions of the weather-related sections of NWCG-sanctioned fire behavior training courses take their content from this manuscript. Although the science within the handbook remains valid, it is in need of updates to include advances in the state-of-the-science, additional synoptic-scale patterns related to large wildfire growth, new tools and techniques for observing fire weather, and basic descriptions of the fire weather forecast variables. The intent is for this to be a living digital manuscript with documented changes being made as new technologies and ideas emerge.

This presentation will be an overview of the intended changes to the original Handbook with expected new chapters and a timeline for delivery. Issues related to the development of training materials with respect to the updated handbook will also be addressed. Feedback from the presentation is encouraged as the authors would like to invite the larger fire weather community to be an integral part of this project.

- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting
- Indicates an Award Winner