Changes to Fire Weather Zones in Central and Northeast Oregon

The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Pendleton, OR (WFO PDT) is reconfiguring fire weather zones in central and northeast Oregon. This is tentatively set for March 18, 2025 at 2 PM PDT (2100 UTC). 

The changes will affect central and north central Oregon, the east slopes of the Oregon Cascades, the eastern Columbia River Gorge of Oregon, the Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon, the Blue Mountains, Grande Ronde, John Day Valleys, Wallowa County, and a portion of the Burns District. This is tentatively set for March 18, 2025 at 2 PM PDT (2100 UTC). No changes will be made to the eastern Washington fire weather zones.

Why is the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Pendleton, OR proposing a change to the fire weather zones in central and northeast Oregon?

In 2022, fire weather zones across eastern Washington were reconfigured to match the Fire Danger Rating Areas (FDRAs) per request of a working interagency group.  Fire Danger Rating Areas are based on an analysis of the components of fire danger: vegetation, climate, and topography.  Multiple agencies that cover eastern Oregon requested the same boundary changes based on the success of the Eastern Washington fire weather zone changes.  Aligning the Fire Weather Zones with the FDRAs will simplify relevant information and reduce the confusion across differing boundaries and among fire management personnel.

What steps were taken during the collaboration process?

A survey was sent to the fire weather partners in October 2023, and a majority of the responses were in favor of the alignment to match fire weather zones with the fire danger rating areas.  In January 2024, a video conference was held discussing the initial proposal of the new fire weather zones.  Since the conference call, there have been multiple collaboration emails with various agencies.  Support was given for the fire zones that cover central and northeast Oregon.

Questions or comments

Mary Wister, NWS Pendleton Fire Weather Program Leader – 541-276-8134  – mary.wister@noaa.gov

Old Fire Weather Zones

OR610:  East Slopes of the Central Oregon Cascades

OR611:   Deschutes National Forest - minus Sisters Ranger District

OR639:  East Slopes of the Northern Oregon Cascades

OR640:  Central Mountains of Oregon

OR641:   Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon

OR642:  Southern Blue and Strawberry Mountains

OR643:  Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon

OR644:  Central Blue Mountains

OR645:  Wallowa District

New Fire Weather Zones

Proposed Fire Weather Zones and Names

OR691:  Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon

OR692:  Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon

OR693:  Canyon Grasslands of Wallowa County

OR694:  Grande Ronde Valley of Oregon

OR695:  Eagle Cap Wilderness

OR696:  John Day Valley

OR697:  Central Blue Mountains

OR698:  Southern Blue Mountains

OR699:  Western Forested Blue Mountains

OR700:  Central Mountains of Oregon

OR701:   Eastern Columbia River Gorge of Oregon

OR702:  East Slopes of the Mt. Hood National Forest

OR703:  Warm Springs Reservation

OR704:  Northern Deschutes National Forest

OR705:  Southern Deschutes National Forest 

The NWS Service Change Notice is available here.

GIS Portal for fire zone shapefiles is located at https://www.weather.gov/gis/FireZones