WRF forecasts of critical fire weather conditions in the San Francisco Bay Area

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to forecast red flag warning events in the San Francisco Bay Area for the summer and fall fire seasons. Using a 1 km grid spacing resolution, a comparison of 6-m wind speeds and directions, along with relative humidity, were made with observations to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of events that met National Weather Service red flag warning criteria. This work investigates the WRF model's suitability for predicting potentially hazardous wildfire conditions as defined by red flag warning criteria.