WindNinja

WindNinja is a computer program that computes spatially varying wind fields for wildland fire application.

See the WindNinja project website for more details.

Also, check out WindNinja-Mobile application.

Take a look at our WindNinja Story Map to see a quick overview.

Wind is one of the most influential environmental factors affecting wildland fire behavior. The complex terrain of fire-prone landscapes causes local changes in wind speed and direction that are not predicted well by standard weather models or expert judgment. WindNinja was developed to help fire managers predict these winds.

WindNinja is a computer program that computes spatially varying wind fields for wildland fire and other applications requiring high resolution wind prediction in complex terrain. It was developed to be used by emergency responders within their typical operational constraints of fast simulation times (seconds), low CPU requirements (single processor laptops), and low technical expertise. WindNinja can be run in three different modes depending on the application and available inputs. The first mode is a forecast, where WindNinja uses coarser resolution mesoscale weather model data from the US National Weather Service to forecast wind at future times. The second mode uses one or more surface wind measurements to build a wind field for the area. The third mode uses a user-specified average surface wind speed and direction. Other required inputs for a WindNinja simulation include elevation data for the modeling area (which WindNinja can obtain from Internet sources), date and time, and dominant vegetation type. A diurnal slope flow model and non-neutral atmospheric stability model can be turned on or off. Outputs of the model are ASCII Raster grids of wind speed and direction (for use in spatial fire behavior models such as FARSITE and FlamMap), a GIS shapefile (for plotting wind vectors in GIS programs), and a .kmz file (for viewing in Google Earth). WindNinja is typically run on domain sizes up to 50 kilometers by 50 kilometers and at resolutions of around 100 meters. WindNinja runs on 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and later operating systems and can also be run on versions of Linux, however building from source code is required (see Building WindNinja with CMake).

Note: Software developers and researchers can visit the WindNinja Project Development website.

Software Installation Notes and Instructions:

• Forest Service users: You should be able to install on your Forest Service-imaged machine; however, if you run into problems, contact the CHD and request Incident Support privileges in CyberArk. You can find the full instructions at FS: CyberArk: EPM Privileges for Fire Assignment or Incident Support (onbmc.com). Once you have privileges, you can run the WindNinja installer from C:\Incident Support.
• A Windows Firewall warning may appear the first time the application is launched, but can be dismissed and the simulation will run normally.
• Hardware recommendations: Minimum: 4 GB RAM, 2.0 GHz processing speed. Recommended: 8 GB RAM, 2.4 GHz processing speed
• Older versions of WindNinja DO NOT need to be uninstalled before installing this version.
• Once installed, WindNinja can be started from Start > Programs > WindNinja-x.x.x > WindNinja-x.x.x.
• There are 4 tutorials that can be opened from Start > Programs > WindNinja-x.x.x > Tutorial. These are strongly recommended for new users.

For incident support:
 Frequently Asked Questions 
 Change Log and release notes
 WindNinja Incident Support Team 

Funding Contributor(s): Joint Fire Science Program; RMRS Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program, Washington State University, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands at Colorado State University.

Principal Investigators: 
Natalie Wagenbrenner
Jason Forthofer

Project Years: 2005-present