A wildfire begins on the ground.

But under the right conditions, it can reach far beyond the landscape around it.

A massive column of heat rises into the atmosphere.

Air rushes inward.

Moisture is carried upward.

Clouds begin forming above the flames.

Winds intensify.

And suddenly, the fire is no longer simply responding to the weather.

It is helping create it.

In The Wildfires That Create Their Own Weather, we explore the extraordinary physics of extreme wildfires and the atmospheric processes that can cause a fire to generate powerful weather of its own.

We begin with heat.

A large wildfire releases enormous amounts of thermal energy as vegetation burns.

That intense heat warms the surrounding air, making it less dense.

Under extreme conditions, this  ...