France wildfire spawned first recorded pyroCb after burning 420 sq km
Why it matters: The fire-generated storm dropped lightning that sparked new blazes and sent erratic winds back into the main fire.
A wildfire in southwest France became so intense that it produced the country’s first recorded pyrocumulonimbus cloud, a fire-driven thunderstorm that generated lightning and helped ignite more fires. The blaze near Saumos began July 22 and has burned more than 420 square kilometers of forest and scrub in Gironde, damaging or destroying more than 240 homes and forcing 220,000 people to evacuate. French fire officials said the cloud formed Friday evening, two days after the fire started, then re-formed several times. Such storms can create violent shifts in wind, pushing flames into new directions and making fires harder to predict. The phenomenon is rare in Europe and is more often documented during extreme fires in North America and Australia.