Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations were conducted for bluff-body stabilized flames of a lean hydrogen/air mixture at near-blowoff conditions in a meso-scale channel. Parametric simulations were conducted by incrementally varying the inflow velocity in the vicinity of the blowoff limit, and the corresponding flame response was monitored. The present study is a showcase of combustion DNS with embedded boundary representation, and full demonstration of the detailed visualization of the near-blowoff flame characteristics. As the inflow velocity approaches blowoff limit, the flame dynamics exhibit a complex sequence of events, such as periodic local extinction and recovery, and regrowth of the bulk flame by the flame segments attached behind the bluff-body. The total extinction is observed as the attached flames shrink down and are no longer able to regrow the bulk flames. Despite the disparity in the physical scale under study, the observed sequence of the extinction pathway shows a strong similarity with experimental observations at larger scale combustion systems. (C) 2015 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved,