Event (25) Fall in DP in second half of night at high altitudes.

Field Observer or Situation Unit Officer

(a) Dew point at Mt Ginini (blue) and Canberra (red). (b) corresponding forest fire danger at Mt Ginini (blue) and Canberra (red).
On one night in seven, on average, an event like this will occur in parts of the high country. The graphs compare conditions at an alpine site and a lowland site. The latter shows a typical diurnal cycle, while the former occasionally does. However, a strong anomaly is evident between 00:00 and 04:00 on 30/11/06. This causes a major spike in FFDI, of concern to crew leaders involved in tasks such as overnight burn-outs.
Detection of such events relies on access to AWS data or to data from hand-held instruments.

Implications

Phenomenon	Urgency	Indicated Red Flag Warning
Nocturnal Dew Point Depression Event	3	7) Dew Point Depression Event

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This material arises from work carried out by the HighFire Risk Project.

Material prepared by R. McRae September 2009.