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Cape Town’s 2023/24 fire season has got off to a busy start earlier than in previous years. The region’s fire season typically runs from November and peaks in February or March the following year. By the end of January, however, the 4th highest number of fire alerts in the past decade had been recorded.
Satellites have picked up more than double the number of fire alerts over Cape Town in the past 3 months than in any of the previous 6 years. Two-thirds of the alerts were in December 2023, which makes it the month with the third-highest number of fire warnings in the past 12 fire seasons, after March 2015 and January 2017.
The alert data is from NASA Earth and does not necessarily indicate the exact number of fires. The satellite, says Stellenbosch University’s Dr Heath Beckett, only passes over SA about twice a day.
Satellites have picked up more than double the number of fire alerts over Cape Town in the past 3 months than in any of the previous 6 years. Two-thirds of the alerts were in December 2023, which makes it the month with the third-highest number of fire warnings in the past 12 fire seasons, after March 2015 and January 2017.
The alert data is from NASA Earth and does not necessarily indicate the exact number of fires. The satellite, says Stellenbosch University’s Dr Heath Beckett, only passes over SA about twice a day.