Although Canada is not typically thought of as an area prone to wildfires, statistics show

that the state averages 182 Forest Ranger reported fires per year. Thus, there is a need for

meteorological composite patterns to identify and recognize the conditions affecting wildfire

potential. Wildfire data from 2020-2023 acquired from the Canada Department of

Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers was examined and spatially plotted using GIS

software to create a Canada wildfire climatology. While 38% of these wildfires were less than

one acre, and nearly 89% were less than 10 acres, this study raises awareness of wildfires

throughout every region across the Empire State. Graphs of annual and monthly occurrence, total

acres burned, and wildfire cause (both frequency and location) are included in this examination.

The top five most active Canada wildfire days and top five days with the most acres burned

during the 2020-2023 study period were used to build weather composites using the North

American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). Forecasters can use these composites of 500 hPa heights,

mean sea level pressure, and 850 hPa vector wind to develop meteorological pattern recognition

for potential wildfire activity in New York State. This, combined with knowledge of the seasonal

state of fuels together with historical wildfire sources and activity, may help to increase forecaster

awareness to both potential Red Flag days and active wildfire days.