Challenges and Successes of the GOES-16 Hot Spot Notification Program in the NWS

Derived products of the GOES-East and GOES-West (GOES-16 and GOES-17) satellites have led to new methods of notifying National Weather Service (NWS) partners of possible wildfires. The Hot Spot Notification program is a quick way the NWS can send a text message to core partners. NWS San Diego and several other Weather Forecast Offices have used this program, along with Fire Temperature information from the GOES-East and GOES-West satellites, to notify emergency personnel of possible fire starts. Time is precious when a new wildfire begins, and getting resources to a fire sooner than later could potentially prevent many fires from getting out of control. This is extremely important for NWS San Diego's area of responsibility where fires quickly get out of control due to dry fuels, steep topography, and sometimes hot, dry and windy weather. In several cases, these messages have been the first notification of a fire. While in other situations, fires were well known before the notification message was sent. Overall, the feedback received on the Hot Spot Notification messages has been very positive. This study will determine how well NWS core partners are receiving and using the Hot Spot Notification messages. In addition, it will research if there are quicker ways a forecaster can receive notification of new enhanced Fire Temperature signatures to improve partner notification.