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Wildfires in Nuwara Eliya
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 12:28 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 590 km² of Nuwara Eliya at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 76 km², ranking 18th of 25 regions of Sri Lanka.
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 2016, with 154 km² detected; the quietest was 2013, with 34 km². The 2021–2025 average is within 5% of 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.
January, February and March together hold 48% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 10 March 2024, with detections in 15 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 590 km² with at least one detection, 21% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 314 | 53% |
| 2 years | 155 | 26% |
| 3 to 5 years | 116 | 20% |
| 6 to 10 years | 6.1 | 1.0% |
| 11 years or more | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 7.25, 80.75 and holds 59% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 52 | 43 |
| 2013 | 34 | 29 |
| 2014 | 92 | 83 |
| 2015 | 37 | 31 |
| 2016 | 154 | 146 |
| 2017 | 48 | 41 |
| 2018 | 50 | 44 |
| 2019 | 101 | 91 |
| 2020 | 116 | 104 |
| 2021 | 38 | 33 |
| 2022 | 60 | 51 |
| 2023 | 103 | 93 |
| 2024 | 124 | 109 |
| 2025 | 55 | 53 |
Other regions of Sri Lanka
- Anuradhapura1,160 km² in an average year
- Monaragala678 km² in an average year
- Ampara633 km² in an average year
- Badulla426 km² in an average year
- Polonnaruwa364 km² in an average year
- Kurunegala353 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.