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Grass fires produce 2 pyrocumulonimbus clouds in southwestern Kansas

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible images with/without a Fire Mask overlay (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window images (right) with an overlay of GLM Flash Points, from 2021 UTC on 15 May to 0030 UTC on 16 May [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible images with/without a Fire Mask overlay (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window images (right) with an overlay of GLM Flash Points (filled white circles), from 2021 UTC on 15 May to 0030 UTC on 16 May [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images (with/without an overlay of the FDCA Fire Mask derived product), Shortwave Infrared images and Infrared Window images (above) showed the thermal anomalies associated with several grass fires south and southwest of Dodge City (KDDC) in southwestern Kansas — and two of these grass fires produced pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds late in the day on 15 May 2026. The initial (and largest) pyroCb exhibited a 24-minute period of GLM-detected lightning activity (beginning at 2234 UTC, and ending at 2258 UTC).

GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible + Fire Mask image (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared image (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window image (right) at 2356 UTC on 15 May, with a cursor sample of the coldest Infrared Window brightness temperature [click to enlarge]

GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible + Fire Mask image (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared image (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window image (right) at 2356 UTC on 15 May, with a cursor sample of the coldest Infrared Window brightness temperature [click to enlarge]

Each pyroCb initially exhibited cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures in the -40s C (shades of blue to cyan), which is a necessary trait to be classified as a pyrocumulonimbus (since those temperatures assure that heterogeneous glaciation has occurred at the cloud top) — and the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature of the larger pyroCb eventually reached -50.61ºC at 2356 UTC on 15 May (above). According to a plot of rawinsonde data from Dodge City (below), that -50.61ºC temperature represented an altitude not far below the Equilibrium Level (EL) of an ascending Forecast Surface air parcel.

Plot of rawinsonde data from Dodge City, Kansas at 0000 UTC on 16 May [click to enlarge]

The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature of the second (smaller) pyroCb was -42.31ºC at 0014 UTC on 16 May (below). Note that the cloud material of this second pyroCb had more of a southeastward drift than the first pyroCb — rawinsonde data depicted light northwest winds near the altitude of the -42ºC temperature level (in contrast to westerly winds at slightly higher altitudes near the Equilibrium Level).

GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible + Fire Mask image (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared image (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window image (right) at 0014 UTC on 16 May, with a cursor sample of the coldest Infrared Window brightness temperature [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) better highlighted the dark burn scars of the grass fires, as well as the hazy pall of smoke that was spreading northward and westward (at Dodge City, this smoke reduced the surface visibility to 3-4 miles at times).

1-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images, from 2100 UTC on 15 May to 0100 UTC on 16 May [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images, from 2100 UTC on 15 May to 0100 UTC on 16 May [click to play MP4 animation]

The grass fires that produced the 2 pyroCb clouds were burning in Clark County and Meade County — both of which were experiencing Severe to Extreme Drought conditions.

Categories: Air quality, Fire detection, GLM, GOES-19, Lightning, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images