Overview

Note: WindWizard is no longer supported by the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab as the underlying software is not readily available. Much of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling within the WindWizard framework will be added to WindNinja within the next two years.

WindWizard is a Gridded Wind Model - Gridded wind is a method that can provide information about the effect of topography on local wind flow at the 100-300 ft scale. Wind information at this detail is not available from the weather service. The wind simulations are not forecasts but rather simulations of what the wind flow would be under different general (synoptic) wind speed and direction scenarios.

Users can essentially pick the scenario they want to simulate; it might be based on forecasts, local observations or historical weather patterns. This high resolution wind information has been used to identify areas and/or conditions that may produce high fire intensity and spread rates and for identifying locations where fire spotting might occur. It also increases the accuracy of FARSITE predictions.