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British Columbia wildfire produces a pyrocumulonimbus cloud

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-18 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-18 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed the formation of a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud — produced by a wildfire southwest of Fort Nelson, British Columbia (station identifier CYYE) — around 2340 UTC on 19 May 2023. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures reached -61ºC as the pyroCb cloud drifted eastward across Alberta.

GOES-18 True Color RGB and Nighttime Microphysics RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) showed the late-day pyroCb formation and its subsequent eastward motion after sunset.

GOES-18 True Color RGB and Nighttime Microphysics RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi-NPP (valid at 0952 UTC) and NOAA-20 (valid at 1042 UTC) are shown below. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were as cold as -63ºC in the NOAA-20 image (which is mislabeled as NPP).

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi-NPP (valid at 0952 UTC) and NOAA-20 (valid at 1042 UTC) [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-18, NOAA-20, Suomi NPP, VIIRS