Fire danger hour by hour in Durban
The fire-danger index combines temperature, how dry the air is, how hard the wind is blowing and how long it has been since meaningful rain. It is not a chance of fire — it is how fast and how fiercely one would run if it started.
| Hour | Index | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Today | ||
| 13:00 | 4 | low |
| 14:00 | 4 | low |
| 15:00 | 3 | low |
| 16:00 | 3 | low |
| 17:00 | 2 | low |
| 18:00 | 1 | low |
| 19:00 | 1 | low |
| 20:00 | 1 | low |
| 21:00 | 1 | low |
| 22:00 | 1 | low |
| 23:00 | 1 | low |
| Tomorrow | ||
| 00:00 | 1 | low |
| 01:00 | 1 | low |
| 02:00 | 1 | low |
| 03:00 | 1 | low |
| 04:00 | 1 | low |
| 05:00 | 1 | low |
| 06:00 | 1 | low |
| 07:00 | 1 | low |
| 08:00 | 1 | low |
| 09:00 | 2 | low |
| 10:00 | 3 | low |
| 11:00 | 3 | low |
| 12:00 | 3 | low |
Under 12 is low, 12 to 24 high, 25 to 49 very high, 50 to 74 severe, and 75 and above extreme. The number climbs through the middle of the day because the air dries out as it warms, and it drops back after sunset when the humidity comes up again.
Why the number is where it is today
It is about 24° in Durban with the humidity around 69% and the wind at 17 km/h. No meaningful rain has fallen in the last three days, so the veld is carrying dry fuel. Gusts stay under 41 km/h in the next twelve hours, which keeps the ceiling on how fast anything could run.
Active fires near Durban
Satellites passing over southern Africa pick up the heat of a burning fire directly. These are detections from the last twelve hours within 150 km, newest first — a detection is a hot spot seen from orbit, which is usually a veld or land-clearing fire and is sometimes a sugar-cane burn or a large industrial flare.
- 52 km west of town 5 hours agoDetected by MODIS (Terra/Aqua), high confidence, radiative power about 25 MW, on a daytime overpass.
- 53 km west of town 5 hours agoDetected by MODIS (Terra/Aqua), high confidence, radiative power about 32 MW, on a daytime overpass.
- 63 km west of town 5 hours agoDetected by MODIS (Terra/Aqua), nominal confidence, radiative power about 4.1 MW, on a daytime overpass.
- 132 km north-west of town 5 hours agoDetected by MODIS (Terra/Aqua), nominal confidence, radiative power about 9.5 MW, on a daytime overpass.
- 133 km north-west of town 5 hours agoDetected by MODIS (Terra/Aqua), nominal confidence, radiative power about 10 MW, on a daytime overpass.
Nothing is close enough to threaten the town itself, but smoke travels much further than fire does — a haze on the horizon usually comes from one of these.
Braai, burning and the rules today
Yes — conditions are mild enough that a normal, contained braai carries little risk. Put the coals out properly anyway.
Two things are true every day of the year, not only the bad ones. Under the National Veld and Forest Fire Act you are liable for a fire that starts on your property and spreads, and that liability does not depend on the weather. And a discarded cigarette, a grinder throwing sparks, or a braai left with coals still alive is the start of most of the fires anyone can put a cause to.
When Durban’s fire season is
South Africa has two fire seasons, in opposite halves of the year, because it has two rainfall regimes. The summer-rainfall interior and east burn in the dry, windy months from about May to October, when last summer's grass has cured and nothing has fallen on it for months. The winter-rainfall southwestern Cape burns in the opposite half, roughly December to March, when the fynbos is at its driest and the berg wind blows. That is why a national fire map is never quiet: something in the country is always in season.
Humid sea air keeps everyday fire danger on this coast lower than on the interior plateau, and the dangerous days are the exceptions: berg-wind days in winter and spring, when the wind reverses, blows down off the escarpment, heats and dries as it falls, and can take the humidity from seventy per cent to twenty in a morning. Much of the burning visible here in winter is the sugar industry's own pre-harvest cane burning, which is deliberate and licensed.
More for Durban
Overhead is a free guide built on live open weather data from Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). It is advisory only — for official warnings and emergencies, follow the South African Weather Service.