Weather is the most important variable in determining burning conditions in any forest area. The Ministry has an extensive fire weather network that provides managers with current weather observations and forecast data.
The Ministry of Natural Resources owns and operates 177 weather stations that are strategically located across Ontario. It also has three telemetry stations and 40 manual portable stations for monitoring on-site weather on prescribed burn sites or wildfire locations.
The Ministry operates a sophisticated lightning locator network, which maps cloud-to-ground lightning strikes as they occur. The network consists of 15 direction finders positioned across northern and central Ontario. They are linked via data lines to a network position analyzer station at the provincial Response Centre at Sault Ste. Marie. The position analyzer calculates strike locations and redistributes location data throughout the network. Regional Fire Centres in Dryden and Sudbury receive the data and display the storm on video monitors. A lightning strike is shown as a flashing signal on a video display map of Ontario within a minute of the strike.
The fire weather program relies on weather forecasts, radar imagery and data from Environment Canada - Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC). In addition to numerical weather prediction models and public forecasts, MSC provides special forecasts on request for use on prescribed burns or wildfire sites. In addition, the Ministry employs one meteorologist and five meteorology technicians, to provide weather forecasts and briefing services and to maintain ministry owned weather equipment.
