Under NSF support, Cliff Mass and his group have been actively studying the 2023 Maui wildfire, with the first results described in an accepted article in the journal, Weather and Forecasting.  This paper showed that high-resolution modeling could skillfully predict the development of the strong winds and that a nearby hurricane had little impact. Continued research will examine the historical and future trends in the conditions that produced the fire, as well as its predictability.

 

A screenshot of a weather map

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WRF forecasts of the surface winds during the event.