Extreme heat and wildfires have caused literal firestorms across Canada
As things start to seemingly settle down weather-wise in some parts of the world, elsewhere, the weather is getting even more dangerous. In western Canada, wildfires have spread across the country, leading to some seriously dangerous weather—including what appears to be “firestorms.”
Absolutely mind-blowing wildfire behavior in British Columbia. Incredible & massive storm-producing pyrocumulonimbus plumes. pic.twitter.com/kH39IuX1ez
If boiling heat and drought weren’t enough, the fires brimming around the corners of the Pacific Northwest are contributing to a threatening storm system. When temperatures are hot enough, rising smoke from the fires can quickly accumulate into raging pyrocumulonibus clouds. These clouds then form thunderstorms, allowing lightning strikes to wreak even more havoc by brewing new fires. In some cases, you may even see “fire tornados.”
NASA has nicknamed these horrifying events “fire-breathing dragon of clouds.” And while they happen more often than you’d think, including extreme recent examples in California last August and Australia in late 2019, some scientists are calling the Canadian firestorm the worst ever seen.
