The California wildfires are so powerful that they have created clouds that look like a bomb exploding in the sky.
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Weather satellites managed to capture images of pyrocumulus clouds multiplying over wildfire sites on Monday, CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert said.
These types of clouds form above an intense heat source, such as a wildfire or volcanic eruption.
Very hot air and condensation of humidity thus constitute these clouds and in this context, they are much larger and darker because of the smoke and ash from the fires, she explained.
NASA
She said they looked like “dirty cauliflowers” or “used cotton buds.”
NASA confirmed that the clouds were seen near Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego during the afternoon of September 9.
They would have transformed into pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which then produced a violent thunderstorm. Rain, strong gusts, thunder and even hail would have fallen on California.
Ravaging flames
Wildfires have been ravaging the western state since early summer. A state of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles, home to more than 3.8 million people and the second most populous city in the United States.
Photo AFP
The “Bridge Fire”, one of three major uncontrolled fires in the region, has already destroyed dozens of homes and nearly 20,000 hectares have had to be razed.
In July, the “Park Fire”, a megafire in northern California, damaged more than 350,000 hectares, making it one of the largest ever recorded in this state.
Thousands of people continue to try to control the fires as an extreme heatwave is currently breaking temperature records, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in some areas in recent days.
Canada was not spared, with many regions in the West affected. The town of Jasper in particular had to be evacuated before the flames ravaged a third of its territory.
– With information from AFP and CNN
