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A Firestorm, One French Firefighter Called It. and the Governor of the Gironde Department Called It "an Incredible
News summary
- And the governor of the Gironde department called it "an incredible and unprecedented phenomenon"
- A pyrocumulonimbus is quite new in Europe.
A firestorm, one French firefighter called it. And the governor of the Gironde department called it "an incredible and unprecedented phenomenon". During the enormous forest fires near the French city of Bordeaux, a pyrocumulonimbus emerged: clouds created by a forest fire.
A pyrocumulonimbus is quite new in Europe. The phenomenon makes forest fires more difficult to fight. What is a pyrocumulonimbus cloud?
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are clouds formed by extreme heat from a forest fire. Many people call it a fire cloud. Because the forest fires near Bordeaux are so large and powerful, enormous amounts of energy and heat rise along with the smoke.
The air on the ground is hot and dry. When the heat from the wildfires is high enough and the air above is cool and moist, the smoke cools. The moisture then condenses and forms a cloud.
The clouds can cause lightning strikes, which are accompanied by strong winds. Rain rarely falls from the cloud. In fact, forest fires in a pyrocumulonimbus create their own weather.
What makes such a cloud so dangerous? Because the clouds bring a lot of wind, the fires on the ground can be fanned even more. The wind is also very unpredictable.
Lightning can also strike the ground, which - just like in the south-west of France - can cause new forest fires. In the summer of 2021, one fire in the Canadian state of British Columbia caused more than 700,000 lightning flashes. As much as the state normally has in a year.
The American space agency NASA calls the cloud "a fire-breathing dragon among the clouds". In 2019, NASA researchers flew a plane through the cloud to better understand it. For example, the chemical composition was examined and the impact on air quality and the climate.
Research into pyrocumulonimbus clouds is still ongoing. Scientists hope to develop a method with which they can predict when clouds form. That can help firefighters extinguish it.
How rare is this phenomenon? The pyrocumulonimbus clouds are very rare, especially in Europe. Especially because you need a big, powerful fire for it.
The French fire brigade says it has never registered such a cloud in France before. In 2017, a fire cloud was spotted during serious forest fires in Portugal, which left 60 dead. It has happened more often in Australia and the United States this century. It only happens during the most intense forest fires.
Source: NOS
