Articles | Volume 20, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1497-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1497-2020
Research article
 | 
27 May 2020
Research article |  | 27 May 2020

Evolution of a pyrocumulonimbus event associated with an extreme wildfire in Tasmania, Australia

Mercy N. Ndalila, Grant J. Williamson, Paul Fox-Hughes, Jason Sharples, and David M. J. S. Bowman

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Cited articles

Abatzoglou, J. T., Williams, A. P., and Barbero, R.: Global Emergence of Anthropogenic Climate Change in Fire Weather Indices, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 326–336, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl080959, 2019. 
Ansmann, A., Baars, H., Chudnovsky, A., Mattis, I., Veselovskii, I., Haarig, M., Seifert, P., Engelmann, R., and Wandinger, U.: Extreme levels of Canadian wildfire smoke in the stratosphere over central Europe on 21–22 August 2017, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11831–11845, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11831-2018, 2018. 
Bureau of Meteorology: 2013 Tasmanian Bushfires Inquiry, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 2013. 
Clarke, H. and Evans, J. P.: Exploring the future change space for fire weather in southeast Australia, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 136, 513–527, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2507-4, 2019. 
Clarke, H. G., Smith, P. L., and Pitman, A. J.: Regional signatures of future fire weather over eastern Australia from global climate models, Int. J. Wildland Fire, 20, 550–562, https://doi.org/10.1071/WF10070, 2011. 
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Short summary
We analyse the evolution of a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb), or fire-induced thunderstorm, during the Forcett–Dunalley fire on 4 January 2013 and relate it to the prevailing fire weather and fire severity patterns. We show that the pyroCb reached an altitude of 15 km, was associated with elevated fire weather, and formed over a severely burned area. Additionally, we show that eastern Tasmania is prone to elevated fire weather which has implications for fire weather forecasting and fire management.
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