Gastill
Fires near Mono Lake, California
We were on a vacation trip through California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. We saw the fires on August 10, 2012, when we were at the shores of Mono Lake in California (near Lee Vining). All the days before we were continuously accompanied by thunderstorms that broke out regularly during the afternoon. The photo was taken before the daily thunderstorm, however, the large convective system already hinted to the next storm to come. It was not clear if this convective cloud system was generated by the uplift of heated air initiated by the fire, or if the convection was just one of the regular thunderstorm events we observed every day, and the related convection sucked up and transported the air and smoke from the fire upwards. Or if a combination of both occurred. In any case, the cumulus cloud was quite isolated, with clear sky surrounded, but you can already see a small developing anvil (the area where ice is formed in the cloud) above the cauliflower-like cumulus cloud. This is a hint towards a developing thunderstorm.
The wild fire was started through lightning ignition on August 8 by a thunderstorm coming from the Sierra Nevada, and it burned for several days (until August 14 at least) on open grassland and far away from human infrastructures.
Fires near Mono Lake, California
We were on a vacation trip through California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. We saw the fires on August 10, 2012, when we were at the shores of Mono Lake in California (near Lee Vining). All the days before we were continuously accompanied by thunderstorms that broke out regularly during the afternoon. The photo was taken before the daily thunderstorm, however, the large convective system already hinted to the next storm to come. It was not clear if this convective cloud system was generated by the uplift of heated air initiated by the fire, or if the convection was just one of the regular thunderstorm events we observed every day, and the related convection sucked up and transported the air and smoke from the fire upwards. Or if a combination of both occurred. In any case, the cumulus cloud was quite isolated, with clear sky surrounded, but you can already see a small developing anvil (the area where ice is formed in the cloud) above the cauliflower-like cumulus cloud. This is a hint towards a developing thunderstorm.
The wild fire was started through lightning ignition on August 8 by a thunderstorm coming from the Sierra Nevada, and it burned for several days (until August 14 at least) on open grassland and far away from human infrastructures.