The Slater Fire was one of hundreds to ignite during a strong easterly wind event impacting the western face of the Cascades and Sierras during Labor Day weekend 2020, culminating in over a million acres burned in CA, OR, and WA. Although driven by an easterly wind event, the fire’s SE to NW path was shaped by strong, transient gusts in the lee of forested north-south ridges and flows through sheltered mountain valleys, burning from northern California into southern Oregon.