Fire-Driven Thunderstorms

In 2016 and 2017, wildfires in western Canada spawned thunderstorms that ignited additional fires, in some cases tens of miles away from the original fire.  These fire-triggered thunderstorms are technically known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or “pyroCb’s”. The physics of pyroCb’s is complex.  When super-heated updrafts from an intense fire suck smoke, ash, burning materials, and […]