France records its first ever cumulonimbus cloud amid record-breaking fires

Firefighters in France are facing a phenomenon the region has never seen before: fire clouds. It’s a sign of Fire severity Burning – and how climate change increases their likelihood.

A wave of fires swept through France and Spain Hundreds of thousands are fleeing. Firefighters on the front lines are facing what a spokesman for the French Firefighters Association said He told AFP It’s called “operational impossibility” – in other words, “a natural force beyond our control.”

For evidence of just how out of control wildfires in France are, look no further than the skies where the fires have, in some cases, created their own weather. To form a fire cloud — what meteorologists call pyrocumulus or even metallic-sounding flame cumulonimbus — you first need heat, heat that fires provide in large part.

But equally important are dry conditions near the ground and cool, relatively humid conditions high in the atmosphere. As the superheated smoke rises miles above the fire and into the cold atmosphere, water vapor condenses around the ash particles to form water droplets. (Yes, water vapor and water droplets are two different things.) As the air continues to rise, these water droplets eventually become ice crystals.

At this point, smoke and water droplets have formed a cloud, but unfortunately it is unlikely to provide much relief in the form of rain. Alternatively, these towering fiery clouds can unleash lightning strikes that can spark more fires and generate powerful downdrafts that reach the ground to fan the flames further. At their worst, cumulonimbus clouds can generate tornadoes.

Pyrocomolonymbus clouds It has been documented in the United States, Canada, and Australia, among a few other locations. But so far there have been no documented fire clouds in France. While wildfires are no stranger to the country, the size and ferocity of this summer’s fires is outside the norm.

Last week was France’s most destructive week for wildfires over the past 20 years, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System. The previous record doubled during that period, which coincides with accurate satellite data. This isn’t a bad week in isolation either. More than 220,000 acres have burned across the country so far, six times the annual average. This is 61,000 acres higher than the previous annual record.

If this sounds like a familiar trend, unfortunately it is. Burning fossil fuels has warmed the planet, making explosive wildfires more common and destructive around the world. A Study 2024 It found that the incidence of severe fires globally more than doubled from 2003 to 2023. Six of the seven most extreme years have occurred since 2016.

After a slight respite over the weekend as temperatures dropped, temperatures are expected to rise again above 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) in France and 108 degrees F in Spain later this week. This means firefighters will have to deal with more severe fire weather, including the potential for cloud formation caused by the fires themselves.