NASA studying ‘fire clouds’ in Oregon and the West that form above wildfires and create their own weather

Large and super-hot wildfires have been increasing as global temperatures rise. So too have the phenomenon they create: “pyrocumulonimbus clouds," better known by their informal, easier-to-pronounce name, “fire clouds.” The large fires push air and particulates into the higher atmosphere where they can form thunderclouds that can produce electrical storms and tornadoes. The wind and lightning expand the large fires they were generated from. But this summer, NASA launched a new project collecting data on fire clouds using a modified U2 spy plane, including fires in Central Oregon. We learn more from Dr. David Peterson, an atmospheric scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, CA and the principal investigator.