U.S. Wildfire Perimeters and Weather Data, 1870-2015

A combined national wildfire perimeter dataset created by merging multiple disparate sources. It includes spatial summary statistics such as number of times burned and fire history dates, alongside seasonal weather rasters for precipitation and temperature. The dataset was compiled by Justin L. Welty of the U.S. Geological Survey and covers records from 1870 to 2015.

Use Cases

• Analyze wildfire frequency and size trends based on historical perimeter data.
• Model relationships between seasonal weather patterns and wildfire occurrence based on the included PRISM weather rasters.
• Assess cumulative burn impact on ecosystems using the spatial summary statistics like number of times burned.
• Identify weather factors from previous years that may influence fire activity based on the multi-year weather data.

Strengths

• Combines multiple national and local wildfire datasets into a single resource.
• Includes derived spatial summary statistics such as earliest and most recent fire of record.
• Encompasses a long temporal range from 1870 to 2015.

Limitations

• The dataset is superseded by a newer version covering 1878-2019.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

United States Geological Survey

Collection Method

Combined and dissolved individual wildfire polygons from multiple freely available datasets using spatial and temporal proximity rules.

Time Range

1870-2015

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; the dataset is noted as superseded by a 2020 release.

Geography

United States and certain territories