EAST GIPPSLAND, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 04: Fire crews put out spot fires on January 04, 2020 in Sarsfield, Australia. Two people are dead and 28 remain missing following bushfires across the East Gippsland area, with Victorian premier Daniel Andrews declaring a state of disaster in the region. Thousands of people remain stranded in the coastal town of Mallacoota and are being evacuated by navy ships to Melbourne. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
The bushfires ravaging Australia are generating so much heat that they are creating their own weather systems including dry lighting storms and fire tornadoes.
On Saturday, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) warned that a fire on the coast was generating its own weather system 287 km south of Sydney.
“A fire-generated thunderstorm has formed over the Currowan fire on the northern edge of the fire near Nowra. This is a very dangerous situation. Monitor the conditions around you and take appropriate action,” the RFS said on social media.
The weather conditions are the results of the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. They have been recorded all over the world but as the global climate changes, they may become a more frequent occurrence for Australians, the country's Climate Council said in a 2019 report.
A RFS firefighter was killed on Monday by a fire tornado caused by the collapse of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud formation that rolled over the fire truck he was in.
Shane Fitzsimmons, the NSW RFS commissioner, pointed to that death when asked about the fire-induced weather patterns.
“That extraordinary event resulted in cyclonic-type base flipping over a 10-tonne truck. That is the volatility and danger that exists,” he said.
The pyrocumulonimbus clouds are essentially a thunderstorm that forms from the smoke plume of a fire as intense heat from the fire causes air to rise rapidly, drawing in cooler air, according to information from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
As the cloud climbs and then cools in the low temperatures of the upper atmosphere, the collisions of ice particles in the higher parts of the cloud build up an electrical charge, which can be released as lightning.
These can cause dangerous and unpredictable changes in fire behaviour, making them harder to fight as well as causing lightning strikes that could ignite new fires.
The rising air also spurs intense updrafts that suck in so much air that strong winds develop, causing a fire to burn hotter and spread further.
Australian bushfires have so far killed two people and have scorched more than 4 million hectares of bushland. A Tuncurry fire crew member fights part of the Hillville bushfire south of Taree, in the Mid North Coast region of NSW, Australia, on November 12, 2019.
Bushfires have destroyed over 1,000 homes in the last few months. Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers and NSW Fire and Rescue officers fight a bushfire encroaching on properties near Termeil, Australia, on December, 3, 2019.
Forecasters are warning that temperatures will soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Saturday, bringing a return of wild winds. Fire trucks are seen during a bushfire in Werombi, 50 km southwest of Sydney, Australia, on December 6, 2019.
17 people are missing with grave fears for their safety. Fire fighting crews from the Rural Fire Service (RFS), NSW Fire and Rescue and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) officers fight a bushfire encroaching on properties near Lake Tabourie, Australia, on December, 5, 2019.
NSW Fire and Rescue officer protects the Colo Heights Public School from being impacted by the Gospers Mountain fire near Colo Heights south west of Sydney, Australia, on November 19, 2019.
A Rural Fire Service firefighter starts a controlled backburn in an effort to contain an approaching fire near Nattai, southwest of Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season.
Fire and Emergency crew battle bushfire near a house in the rural town of Canungra in the Scenic Rim region of South East Queensland, Australia, on September 6, 2019.
The Clyde Mountain Fire, 200 kms (124 miles) south of Sydney, Australia seen in this satellite image released by Copernicus Sentinel Imagery, 2020 twitter page acquired on Dec. 31, 2019.
Thick smoke from wildfires shroud the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 10, 2019.
NSW Rural Fire Service crews protect properties on Waratah Road and Kelyknack Road as the Three Mile fire approaches Mangrove Mountain, Australia, on December 5, 2019.
A fire blazes across bush as seen from Mount Tomah in New South Wales, Australia on December 15, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media video.
The Australian navy was racing to rescue thousands of people stranded on the east coast of the fire-ravaged country. Country Fire Service (CFS) members put out a fire which reached hay bales on a property at Mount Torrens in the Adelaide Hills, Australia, on January 3, 2020.
Fire and Rescue NSW team rescue a Koala from fire in Jacky Bulbin Flat, New South Wales, Australia on November 21, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media.
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