Scientists fear surge in supersized bushfires that create their own violent thunderstorms

Reported today on The Guardian

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Scientists fear surge in supersized bushfires that create their own violent thunderstorms

Scientists fear surge in supersized bushfires that create their own violent thunderstorms

Pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCB) storms are feared due to the violent and unpredictable conditions they create on the ground

Scientists fear climate change will drive a surge in the number of supersized and dangerous bushfires that become coupled with the atmosphere and create their own violent thunderstorms.

Guardian Australia can reveal 2019 is likely to be a "standout year" for the number of bushfires that generate giant thunderstorm clouds known as pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCBs.

PyroCB storms are feared by firefighters for the violent and unpredictable conditions they create on the ground.

PyroCBs are able to generate their own lightning strikes, mass downdrafts of air, gusty winds and even hail blackened with soot. The plumes generated from pyroCBs can influence the atmosphere at heights of up to 15km.

Embers still hot enough to start new fires can be shot out of a pyroCB at distances of 30km from the main fire.

The 411,000 hectare Gospers Mountain fire in the Blue Mountains, still burning out of control on Thursday, is likely the latest bushfire to have generated a pyroCB storm on 22 November.

Nicholas McCarthy, who has just completed a Phd at the University of Queensland on why bushfire thunderstorms form, said watching one develop was a "grounding experience".

"Once you hear that first clap of thunder, you know there's not a lot you can do," he said. "There shouldn't be anyone on the ground at that point. All of a sudden [the fire] loses a whole level of predictability."

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