CNN on fire whirls, fire tornadoes, and “pyro” clouds

Bill Gabbert
July 24, 2021

Satellite photo, wildfires, — As the sun begins to set on the west coast, gray smoke from wildfires can be easily distinguished from white clouds. In the photo, the largest smoke plume is coming from the the Dixie Fire in Northern California. Smoke from other fires was being generated in northeast Washington, Southern Oregon, British Columbia, Northern Idaho, and Western Montana. NOAA, GOES 17.

A reporter for CNN, Rachel Ramirez, wrote an “explainer” article about some of the phenomena associated with wildfires that are part of the common parlance among wildland firefighters, but might seem strange to normal people. Some of the topics covered are fire whirls, fire tornadoes, pyrocumulus clouds, and fires “creating their own weather.”

Ms. Ramirez has quotes from Janice Coen, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and at least one other name that will be familiar to our readers.

Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

And as climate change accelerates, these wind patterns will continue to shift.

“With the changing climate, the projected change is that the jet stream will shift towards the north,” Coen told CNN, which means that “we might see fewer of these events in California, and see more in Oregon and Washington if these wind events, the regional weather pattern, coincide with underlying dry periods in fortuitous ignitions.”