When bushfires make their own weather

By Jason Sharples, Professor of Bushfire Dynamics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney
Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne
Luke Burgess, PhD Candidate, Weather and Fire Extremes, The University of Melbourne
Todd Lane, Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century, The University of Melbourne

Bushfires are strongly driven by weather: hot, dry and windy conditions can combine to create the perfect environment for flames to spread across the landscape.

But sometimes the relationship flips: fires can generate their own weather systems, which can then dramatically alter the spread and intensity of the blaze.

One of the most striking examples of this phenomenon is the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds — towering storm clouds born from fire.

How can a fire make winds and clouds?

Large bushfires release enormous amounts of energy – sometimes…

Read complete article

~	Russia wanted a new world order. This wasn’t the one it had in mind

~	The US-Israel attack on Iran paints NZ foreign policy into a corner

~	If you win most literary prizes, you pay tax. If you win The Block, you don’t. How is this fair?

~	Matildas effect 2.0? Why the Women’s Asian Cup is a huge moment for Australian soccer

~	US State Revokes Gender-Affirming Identification

~	Pacific Islands: World’s First Regional Guidance on Climate Relocation

~	Arrowhead points found in Central Asia could prove the existence of ‘Homo sapiens’ 80,000 years ago

~	Why the U.S. is unlikely to curtail China’s dominance over critical minerals

~	Why doesn’t travel insurance cover war?

~	Far-right ‘gangster morality’ and the search for meaning: why you should read Camus