With summer temperatures increase dramatically in some areas of the planet where there is a warm climate. This is the case in Canada. Due to the historical heat wave that is happening in Canada, several fires have been formed that have generated pyrocumulonimbus. These are clouds produced by fires that have effects on the atmosphere worth studying.
Therefore, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you everything you need to know about pyrocumulonimbus and the news about the fires and the heat wave in Canada.
Historic heat wave in Canada
Canada's problem with high temperatures is that After a fairly intense heat wave that was about to end, another began. This situation has generated excessively high temperatures that make forests more vulnerable to forest fires. These wildfires have been huge and have added to the entire disaster affecting Canada.
It is not only about the devastating fires, but the origin of the pyrocumulonimbus. These cloud formations are generated in massive devastating fires which, in turn, cause new fires due to the lightning it generates. We must understand that this type of cloud associated with fires also has its own dynamics of the atmosphere. The rays that are generated during the formation of the pyrocumulonimbus fall on the forest and added to the hour of heat and the dry and hot environment the fires continue in the area. Other pyrocumulonimbus have fueled a spiral of fire and lightning that looked like an apocalypse.
Temperatures up to 49.6 degrees have been registered in Canada in all this time that the heat wave has lasted. These values are usually a real savagery, not only because of their geographical location, but because of the value itself. And is that it is almost 50 degrees of temperature in 50ºN of latitude. This means that we are having desert temperatures in Canada. We have never seen these levels of heat this far north of the planet until now. We are talking about temperatures that have been recorded from meteorological and temperature records by humans.
Historical weather event
The heat wave in Canada has become a landmark meteorological event declared by the World Meteorological Organization. And we are talking about a event whose recurrence frequency is one every tens of thousands of years. The origin of heat waves is due to the polar jet stream. Its somewhat strange behavior generated this type of heat wave in the northern part of the northern hemisphere.
We can especially highlight this situation since they are phenomena that are also known in Spain. They are thermodynamic processes that occur in the atmosphere in the summer. The origin of the heat wave took place in the Pacific Ocean. The key to this lies in the fact that this air mass was descending in altitude as it moved towards western Canada. All air parcels descending from altitude during this displacement, they underwent a heating process by adiabatic compression. Normally, this phenomenon is related to the subsidence phenomenon that is associated with the anomalous anticyclonic blockade that developed in this region.
Origin and characteristics of pyrocumulonimbus
Earlier we talked about clouds whose formation has its origin in the fires in Canada. The heat wave has caused a wave of gigantic and devastating forest fires that are taking over the entire region and destroying everything in its wake. The massive pyrocumulonimbus have been huge and very numerous. Not even the apocalyptic fires in Australia of previous years have generated such terrible gigantic clouds.
It is a type of thunderstorm cloud that has its origin in the heat generated in forest fires. In these cases, the atmospheric conditions are adequate to generate this type of clouds.
Massive pyrocumulonimbus
It is one thing to form a pyrocumulonimbus of normal size produced by the environmental conditions that occur in a forest fire. Depending on the heat, the vegetation density and the atmospheric conditions, these clouds can be larger or smaller. There are numerous pyroconvective events associated with wildfires, but many scientists confirm that this is the most extreme that has ever been seen.
And this is literally a firestorm that has produced thousands of lightning strikes and almost certainly countless new fires. The terrible spiral of these environmental conditions and the formation of Pyrocumulonimbus is based on the fact that these clouds generate thousands of lightning strikes that again generate more fires. This fire-feeding spiral can cause serious damage to the forests.
We know that forest fires are part of the cycle of nature and that there are plants that benefit from them. However, such destruction will take a long time to recover. If the atmospheric conditions are suitable, the pyrocumulonimbus can form a mesocyclone and become a pyrosupercell. These conditions can lead to tornadoes that can further aggravate the problem. Being a convective structure, it can organize and generate serious disasters.
You just have to imagine the generation of storm clouds that can generate tornadoes, lightning, new fires, etc. It is totally catastrophic. The brutal pyrocumulonimbus can be seen from the surface and are quite a sight to see.
It must be taken into account that this type of serious situation has been attributed to climate change due to the fact of having abnormally high temperatures in an area where there are usually none. We are talking about that Canada has generally low temperatures and where there is heavy snowfall every year. In this type of latitude it is totally strange to have temperatures more typical of desert ecosystems.
As you can see, the Canadian heat wave has become a historic event to be remembered alongside the Australian fires of years past. I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Canadian heat work and pyrocumulonimbus.