&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Cataclysmic Bordeaux wildfire is generating its own thunderstorms inside massive fire cloud")
The wildfire in Bordeaux, south of France, is so huge that it has spun its own cloud, which is creating its own winds and lightning, further igniting more fires. Known as "pyrocumulonimbus", the fire cloud is an unprecedented occurrence, showing the scale of the catastrophe. The "apocalyptic" blaze has caused more than 325,000 people to flee the region, as the flames engulf forests and villages. The wildfire has spread for kilometres, leaving firefighters struggling. Locals are pitching in to control the blaze, but the efforts are falling short as 38 degrees Celsius heat threatens to fan the flames.
Nearly 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police have been deployed in the Gironde region to battle one of the worst fires to hit France. The fires are so massive that for the first time they have spun something called the pyrocumulonimbus, or PyroCbs - a fire cloud with its own winds and lightning.
How does pyrocumulonimbus, or fire cloud, form?
This heat cloud is also formed from volcanic eruptions, and NASA refers to it as "the fire-breathing dragon of clouds." PyroCbs are formed when extreme thermal energy from a wildfire or volcano heats the surrounding air. A powerful chimney-like updraft rapidly channels hot air, ash, smoke, and moisture upward into the atmosphere. As it rises into colder high-altitude air, water vapour condenses around soot and ash particles, creating a towering cumulonimbus cloud. Meanwhile, the top of the cloud gets cold enough to freeze water droplets into ice crystals, generating electrical charges just like a standard thunderstorm.
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France wildfires have burned thousands of tonnes of crops
The extreme heat is acting as fuel, with firefighters trying to find their window to strike. Eric Brocardi, of the National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF), said, "It's a David-versus-Goliath scenario... at some point, we'll find a weak spot and strike there." French president Emmanuel Macron will hold a morning crisis meeting on Monday with his cabinet to discuss the emergency. France is going through its fourth heatwave of the season. Several other fires have already destroyed thousands of tonnes of crops, threatening to create a food scarcity.
