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Wildfires in Dowa
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 2,380 km² of Dowa at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 618 km², ranking 20th of 28 regions of Malawi.
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 2013, with 944 km² detected; the quietest was 2022, with 305 km². The 2021–2025 average is 54% lower 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.
July, August and September together hold 78% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 24 July 2018, with detections in 48 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 2,380 km² with at least one detection, 59% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 576 | 24% |
| 2 years | 410 | 17% |
| 3 to 5 years | 905 | 38% |
| 6 to 10 years | 452 | 19% |
| 11 years or more | 35 | 1.5% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -13.75, 34.25 and holds 41% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 905 | 1,003 |
| 2013 | 944 | 1,054 |
| 2014 | 688 | 710 |
| 2015 | 864 | 920 |
| 2016 | 746 | 782 |
| 2017 | 671 | 715 |
| 2018 | 643 | 675 |
| 2019 | 644 | 674 |
| 2020 | 622 | 653 |
| 2021 | 496 | 518 |
| 2022 | 305 | 295 |
| 2023 | 378 | 377 |
| 2024 | 425 | 417 |
| 2025 | 317 | 306 |
Other regions of Malawi
- Mzimba3,870 km² in an average year
- Kasungu3,240 km² in an average year
- Mangochi2,950 km² in an average year
- Nkhata Bay2,760 km² in an average year
- Rumphi2,490 km² in an average year
- Nkhotakota2,460 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.