Dry Lake Complex (Dry Lakes)
2003114,154 acresNew Mexico
The Dry Lake Complex (Dry Lakes) burned 114,154 acres, about 178 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on May 31, 2003.
Watch how it happenedDry Lake Complex (Dry Lakes) · 2003
How it happened
Watch it burn in the order satellites saw it, coloured by how severely each place burned.
How severely it burned
Burn severity inside the final perimeter, classified from Landsat images taken before and after the fire.
| Severity | Share | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered | 5.2% | 5,913 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 11% | 13,103 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 15% | 16,589 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 69% | 78,527 |
5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 5,913 acres; 17% burned at moderate or high severity.
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (U.S. Geological Survey and USDA Forest Service). Classes come from the change in a Landsat burn index (dNBR) between images before and after the fire; acres are each class’s share of the fire’s mapped area.
Where it burned
Acres inside each county, measured from the satellite-mapped perimeter.
| Catron County | NM | 65,676 |
| Grant County | NM | 48,279 |
Other large fires in New Mexico in 2003
- Boiler Fire56,854 acres
- Unnamed Fire38,998 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.