The WindNinja tool, developed by FFS Mechanical Engineer Jason Forthofer and Research Mechanical Engineer Bret Butler, is featured in a recent blog on the TracPlus website. Over the years, wind shifts have caused untold damage to communities and claimed the lives of firefighters and civilians alike. Although the National Weather Service (NWS) provides regular forecasts of the weather across the country, it could never drill down to a small enough area to be useful for firefighters. This was the beginning of WindNinja, a tool available to anyone with a computer or a smartphone.
WindNinja simulates high-resolution wind in mountainous in a manner quickly available to firefighters on the ground. Wind Ninja has three modes ranging from broad to site specific. Read the TracPlus blog to ‘hear’ about the tool’s development or the WindNinja tool itself on the Fire, Fuel and Smoke web page.