France’s Wildfires Just Triggered Something the Country Has Never Seen Before

France’s devastating wildfire crisis has entered a new and unfamiliar territory as dark, gigantic storm clouds tower above, posing an added threat to the already extreme conditions. A wildfire in southwest France has resulted in the country’s first-ever reported pyrocumulonimbus, or fire cloud, a thunderstorm-like cloud that forms ​when intense heat drives smoke, ash, and water vapor high into ⁠the atmosphere, Reuters reported. The phenomenon is deeply concerning, as it can cause the blaze below to spread even faster. What is a fire cloud? If a fire is large enough, it essentially begins creating its own weather. With massive wildfires, large amounts of energy and heat drift upwards, creating a smoke plume. Once the plume rises high enough toward the stratosphere, low atmospheric pressure causes the air to cool. When there’s enough moisture in the atmosphere, the smoke plume condenses to form a cloud. The cloud can create its own thunderstorms, generating lightning strikes and windy conditions. The fire cloud often appears grayish or brown in color due to the ash and smoke of the fire, and it can often continue to expand as the ash further fuels its condensation. When pyrocumulonimbus clouds form above fires, they can create winds that cause the blaze below to spread even faster and develop a more unpredictable pattern. If they create their own lightning, that can also ignite more fires. Wildfire hazards Sadly, as extreme heatwaves intensify wildfires across the world, fire clouds are becoming more common. Countries like Portugal and Australia have experienced the extreme weather phenomenon before, and fire clouds also appeared above the wildfires in California in 2022. Earlier this week, French authorities reported their first pyrocumulonimbus cloud, which appeared near Bordeaux. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts has not yet confirmed whether this was in fact France’s first pyrocumulonimbus, CNN reported. If true, however, the recent development in France is of deep concern to firefighters battling the country’s most ferocious wildfires to date. Up until today, wildfires have scorched through roughly 290,000 acres in France, and they will likely continue to rage as Europe braces for another heat wave.