- Title:
-
Unusual Phenomena in an Extreme Bushfire
- Date:
- August 2005
- Organisations
- University of Manchester
- Authors:
- J.W. Dold, R.O. Weber, M. Gill, R. McRae and
N. Cooper -
Location:
-
UK,
United Kingdom
Overview
Fires burning to the west of Canberra on 18th January 2003 generated a series of cumulonimbus, or pyrocumulus, clouds that may have exacerbated windspeeds as they approached suburban Canberra. Powerful whirlwinds were generated, at least one of which might have been a genuine tornado. In places, fires are reported to have emerged with an intensity that appeared unsustainable by the local vegetation. This suggests that pyrolysed gases might have been able to escape from the incomplete combustion at the fire front in sufficient concentration to ignite and burn elsewhere.
