{"id":72227,"date":"2026-09-16T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=72227"},"modified":"2026-09-18T19:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:50:26","slug":"floriston-fire-near-the-california-nevada-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/72227","title":{"rendered":"Floriston Fire near the California\/Nevada border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_g18_vis_fireMask.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>5-minute GOES-18 Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product,  from 1646 UTC on 16 September to 0101 UTC on 17 September; Interstate 80 is plotted in red<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-18 <em>(GOES-West)<\/em> Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product <strong><em>(above)<\/em><\/strong> showed the evolution of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.watchduty.org\/i\/120733\">Floriston Fire<\/a><\/strong> thermal signature (red pixels) as the vegetation fire grew near the California\/Nevada border on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/dailywxmap\/index_20260916.html\">16 September 2026<\/a><\/strong>. Evacuation Orders were issued for areas near the fire &#8212; and Interstate 80 in the vicinity of Verdi, Nevada was closed to westbound traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Floriston Fire smoke plume drifted northeastward across far western Nevada, it periodically reduced the surface visibility to 9 miles at Reno Stead Airport KRTS <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_KRTS_SFCMG.GIF\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_KRTS_SFCMG.GIF\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Plot of surface observation data at Reno Stead Airport, from 17 UTC on 16 September to 02 UTC on 17 September [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/ngfs\/\">Next Generation Fire System<\/a><\/strong> (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons<strong> <em>(below)<\/em><\/strong> provided a closer view of the thermal signature, smoke plume and occasional bursts of pyrocumulus clouds produced by the Floriston Fire (the initial NGFS detection occurred at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_1716z_g18_ngfs_terrain_initial_detection.png\">1716 UTC<\/a><\/strong>). Wind gusts (red numbers in the lower right corner of the Surface Observation plots) in the vicinity of the fire were as high as 28 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_g18_rgb_ngfs.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>5-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection Polygons, from 1701 UTC on 16 September to 0101 UTC on 17 September<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even though the satellite viewing angle was larger for GOES-19 <em>(GOES-East)<\/em>, that GeoColor RGB image + NGFS Fire Detection polygon perspective is shown below. Due to this larger viewing angle (64.44 degrees for GOES-19, vs. 48.95 degrees for GOES-18), the GOES-19 NGFS polygons appeared larger and somewhat distorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_g19_rgb_ngfs.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>5-minute GOES-19 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons, from 1701 UTC on 16 September to 0101 UTC on 17 September<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A toggle between 1846 UTC NGFS Fire Detection polygons from GOES-18 vs. GOES-19 projected onto a terrain map <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong> highlighted the larger GOES-19 NGFS polygons. Note that the central red (hottest) NGFS polygon was centered along the eastern slopes of the Verdi Range (which has maximum elevations of 7000-8000 feet) &#8212; perhaps giving GOES-19 a somewhat more direct view of the Floriston Fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_1846z_g18_g19_ngfs_terrain_anim.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Terrain map with overlays of NGFS Fire Detection polygons from GOES-18 and GOES-19 at 1846 UTC on 16 September<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This terrain apparently played a role in the magnitude of NGFS parameters sensed by the 2 satellites at 1846 UTC <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong> &#8212; in spite of the larger viewing angle of GOES-19, it detected a peak 3.9 \u00b5m infrared brightness temperature of 131\u00baC (vs. 110\u00baC from GOES-18) and a corresponding Pixel FRP (Fire Radiative Power) of 2921.11 MW (vs. 1005.91 MW from GOES-18). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260916_1846z_g18_g19_ngfs_terrain_probe_anim.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Terrain map with a probe of NGFS Fire Detection parameters from GOES-18 and GOES-19 at 1846 UTC on 16 September<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the subsequent nighttime hours, the bright glow of the Floriston Fire was evident in a NOAA-20 VIIRS Day\/Night Band image at 1027 UTC (3:27 AM PDT) on 17 September <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260917_1027utc_noaa20_viirs_dayNightBand_Floriston_Fire.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/09\/260917_1027utc_noaa20_viirs_dayNightBand_Floriston_Fire.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>NOAA-20 (mislabeled by AWIPS as NPP) VIIRS Day\/Night Band image valid at 1027 UTC on 17 September [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product (above) showed the evolution of the Floriston Fire thermal signature (red pixels) as the vegetation fire grew near the California\/Nevada border on 16 September 2026. Evacuation Orders were issued for areas near the fire &#8212; and Interstate 80 in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":72230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,114,159,158,78,45,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-quality","category-fire-detection","category-goes-18","category-goes-19","category-ngfs","category-noaa-20","category-redgreenblue-rgb-images","category-viirs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72227"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72255,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72227\/revisions\/72255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}