Heat From France’s Wildfires Creates a ‘Fire Cloud,’ or Pyrocumulonimbus

Extreme fire conditions on the ground have created unprecedented conditions in the atmosphere.

This phenomenon, which is new to France, is yet another consequence of human-caused climate change, according to French researcher Jean-Baptiste Filippi, who studies wildfires.

A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its towering smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said

A pyrocumulonimbus — a thundercloud created by intense heat — is a phenomenon that can spark new blazes and is “unprecedented in France,” officials said.