A daily gridded dataset of the Fire Weather Index across Canada, with calculations based on the sun's elevation

Benoit, Clémence; Durand, Jonathan; Gachon, Philippe; Boucher, Jonathan; Boulanger, Yan

doi:10.5194/essd-18-5995-2026

Articles | Volume 18, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5995-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5995-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 8

Data description article

|

25 Aug 2026

Data description article |

| 25 Aug 2026

A daily gridded dataset of the Fire Weather Index across Canada, with calculations based on the sun's elevation

Clémence Benoit, Jonathan Durand, Philippe Gachon, Jonathan Boucher, and Yan Boulanger

Data sets

ERA5-FWI-SN dataset Clémence Benoît et al. https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/4B18XZ

Model code and software

era5-fwi-sn v1.0.0 C. Benoît and J. Durand https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21398765

Short summary

In this data description paper, we present the ERA5-FWI-SN dataset, which consists in a gridded dataset of the daily Forest Fire Weather System (FWI) components across Canada, derived from the hourly ERA5 reanalysis products. For the first time, FWI calculations use surface weather readings taken at the local solar noon. This new method enables a more physically realistic spatial distribution of FWI components values across the east–west extent of a single time zone.