Wildfire convection may have contributed to a flood advisory

North of Miami

Smoke and flood advisory

There is a discussion on Twitter about to what extent, if any, fire-induced convection and smoke from a wildfire northwest of Miami contributed to downstream precipitation and a flood advisory north of the city. While it happened on April 1, I don’t see any indication that it is a joke.

There is a possibility that outflow from a nearby thunderstorm interacted with the convection and smoke from the wildfire to intensify the effects.

The thread was started by Philipe Papin, a meteorologist with the NWS National Hurricane Center.

One of the fires in that general area is the 12,000-acre L 30 Fire which has been burning since at least March 28.

Wildfires in the Miami area, April 1-2, 2022
Wildfires in the Miami area, April 1-2, 2022.

Video of rotating convection column

rotating convection column
Screenshot from @StormCatMedia video below.

Most large convection columns of smoke rising over large or intense wildfires rotate to some degree. In the video below filmed near Melbourne, Australia, the speed of the playback has been increased, making it easier to notice the rotation. To confirm this, check out the car driving by at what appears to be over 250 miles per hour.

Thanks Mike. Very interesting!

As a bonus, here is another recent convection column in Australia — a very large one with condensation on top, referred to as a pyrocumulus cloud.