France firestorm phenomenon: monster clouds that spawn lightning and new blazes

AI Summary

A wildfire in southwest France intensified to the extent that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that ignited additional fires. This pyrocumulonimbus phenomenon created erratic winds, driving the flames in new directions, posing increased wildfire risks.

A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe...