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Wildfires in Southern
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 05:23 UTC
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-23
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 11,750 km² of Southern at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 1,120 km², ranking 6th of 15 regions of Botswana.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2023, with 5,940 km² detected; the quietest was 2016, with 34 km². The 2021–2025 average is 590% higher than the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
August, September and October together hold 67% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 12 October 2022, with detections in 283 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 11,750 km² with at least one detection, 5.2% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 8,570 | 73% |
| 2 years | 2,560 | 22% |
| 3 to 5 years | 611 | 5.2% |
| 6 to 10 years | 4.5 | 0.0% |
| 11 years or more | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -24.25, 23.25 and holds 16% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1,280 | 1,304 |
| 2013 | 338 | 359 |
| 2014 | 134 | 137 |
| 2015 | 112 | 125 |
| 2016 | 34 | 35 |
| 2017 | 154 | 161 |
| 2018 | 338 | 333 |
| 2019 | 55 | 56 |
| 2020 | 96 | 99 |
| 2021 | 1,640 | 1,600 |
| 2022 | 3,950 | 4,152 |
| 2023 | 5,940 | 6,244 |
| 2024 | 1,060 | 1,060 |
| 2025 | 513 | 493 |
Other regions of Botswana
- North-West13,000 km² in an average year
- Ghanzi6,290 km² in an average year
- Kgalagadi5,220 km² in an average year
- Central2,720 km² in an average year
- Kweneng1,470 km² in an average year
- Kgatleng119 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby regions
- Kweneng75 km
- Ghanzi174 km
- Kgalagadi210 km
- Kgatleng354 km
- Northern Cape, South Africa447 km
- North West, South Africa483 km