Smoke from western wildfires drifts into the Midwest

ST. LOUIS — Smoke from several wildfires burning in the western United States and Canada is now drifting in across the Midwest. Meteorologist Angela Hutti says that it is very high up in the atmosphere, giving us an almost eerie look to the sky. It is also giving us a vibrant sunrise, with an orange glow. Track the smoke and the fires here.

The Associated Press reports that large wildfires can generate huge plumes of smoke and ash that can rise more than 5 miles, depending on conditions such as the terrain, weather and temperature. The columns can collapse when the amount of heat over the fire drops — from changing fuels or weather — and reduces the updraft, or when strong winds sheer off the top of the column.

In the most extreme cases, smoke columns can be topped with “fire clouds,” or pyrocumulus clouds, that look much like the thunderheads that develop before a big thunderstorm.

It’s not unusual for a smoke column to collapse, and some fires go through multiple cycles of column collapse and regeneration in a day, according to the Southwest Fire Science Consortium.

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