As if California wildfires weren’t bad enough, their smoke has started to form self-contained weather systems capable of spinning out lightning and so-called firenadoes.
As wildfires burn, the heat released causes an updraft that draws in winds. If the blaze is big enough, the rising air can create a billowing pyrocumulus, or fire cloud, that can stir dry lightning and even push more wind into the mix. The dense cloud can resembles an erupting volcano’s plume.
@RobMayeda
1 hour timelapse looking back toward the #HennesseyFire, #15-10Fire and #GambleFire #LNULightningComplex shows cycle of pyrocumulus build and collapse cycles ongoing likely driving erratic wind behavior at times below (2/2) #CAwx #FireWx @nbcbayarea
12:52 AM · Aug 19, 2020
41
20 people are Tweeting about this