{
  "id": 17661,
  "title": "Four ways wildfires generate tornadoes, lightning and other extreme weather, sometimes miles from the flames",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/01/four-ways-wildfires-generate-tornadoes-lightning-and-other-extreme",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-01T18:00:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ways-wildfires-generate-tornadoes-lightning.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Massive wildfires release intense heat that creates upward-moving air currents called updrafts. These strong updrafts can spin into fire whirls, or fire tornadoes, similar to the tornado formation process, but typically much smaller and confined within the fire area. As the fire burns, it releases water vapor from burning vegetation and the surrounding air. When this plume of hot gases and smoke rises, the moisture cools and condenses into tiny cloud droplets, forming pyrocumulus, or fire clouds, above the flames. These clouds can grow taller and develop into pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which are essentially thunderstorms fueled by the wildfire. As these storms form, they generate lightning, which can ignite new fires beyond the original blaze, complicating firefighting efforts. Additionally, wildfire smoke can travel for hundreds or even thousands of miles, influencing cloud formation and precipitation patterns downwind. Smoke particles act as cloud condensation nuclei, increasing the number of smaller cloud droplets. This can delay rainfall or shift it to another location, making weather forecasting more challenging during major wildfire events. Furthermore, smoke-affected thunderstorms have been observed to produce more positive-charge lightning strikes, which are more powerful and damaging than typical negative lightning. This type of lightning can ignite additional fires and poses greater risks to people and infrastructure. Overall, wildfires and their smoke have the potential to significantly alter weather patterns, emphasizing the need for better understanding and adaptation strategies as the frequency of large wildfires increases.",
  "summary": "Thick smoke from massive wildfires has been spreading in North America and Europe once again in 2026. The health impacts of breathing this particle-filled air are becoming well known, but wildfires' influence on the weather is less widely recognized.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}