FARSITE  Weather Inputs

The Weather Inputs tab in the "Farsite Run:" dialog box is where you define the weather conditions of your Farsite run.

Fuel Moisture File

The Fuel Moisture File (.FMS) is a required input for a Farsite simulation.

Typically for a Farsite simulation the dead fuel moistures are adjusted for timesteps and landscape location using Dead Fuel Moisture Conditioning. The Fuel Moisture File (.FMS) sets the starting dead fuel moistures for the conditioning process. Live fuel moistures do not vary throughout a Farsite simulation and retain the values set by the Fuel Moisture File (.FMS).      

Click the button to display several Fuel Moisture File (.FMS) options,

• Open FMS File... - if you already have a Fuel Moisture File (.FMS), use this option to load it into your simulation,
• Create FMS File... - you can create and load a new Fuel Moisture File (.FMS) for your simulation,
• Edit FMS File... - once you have a Fuel Moisture File (.FMS) loaded you can edit it with the FlamMap Text Editor.

Custom Fuels

A Custom Fuel Model (.FMD) File must be loaded when custom fuel models are contained in the project landscape.

Select the Custom Fuels (*.fmd) check box and click the button to display several Custom Fuel Model (.FMD) File options,

• Open FMD File... - use this option to load an existing Custom Fuel Model (.FMD) File into your simulation,
• Edit FMD File... - once you have a Custom Fuel Model (.FMD) File loaded you can edit it with the FlamMap Text Editor.

Winds

Unlike FlamMap, which uses a single fixed wind speed and direction, Farsite varies the winds for each time step of the simulation. There are several ways to input multiple wind data into a simulation.

Winds from Weather File Inputs

The simplest way to input wind is using the data found in the Weather Stream (.WXS) files loaded on the Weather Stream and Burn Periods tab.

Generate Gridded Wind

One method of modeling fire behavior using complex wind and terrain interactions is to use the Generate Gridded Wind from Weather Inputs option. Selecting this radio button activates the WindNinja Options button, clicking which will open the "WindNinja Options" dialog box. Details for using the WindNinja Options in a Farsite run are found in the Wind Vectors topic.

External Wind Grids

Selecting the Gridded Winds From ATM File radio button allows you to bring in winds grids from an external source for a Farsite simulation. External wind grids are entered into a simulation by listing them in an Atmosphere Grid (.ATM) File. Click the button to display several options,

• Open Atmosphere Grid File... - use this option to load an existing Atmosphere Grid (.ATM) File into your simulation,
• New Atmosphere Grid File - you can create and load a new  Atmosphere Grid (.ATM) File into your simulation with the Custom Atmosphere Grid File Editor,
• Edit Atmosphere Grid File - once you have a Atmosphere Grid (.ATM) File loaded you can edit it with the Custom Atmosphere Grid File Editor.

 It is handy to have the weather files loaded and burn periods set before creating an Atmosphere Grid (.ATM) File.

Status Bar

The "Farsite Run:" dialog box/tabs have a status bar and functional buttons at the bottom to help you keep track of where you are at with the set up process.