Wildfires can turn air into plasma and short-circuit the planet

Science
Wildfires can turn air into plasma and short-circuit the planet

Massive infernos can reach twelve kilometers into the sky, creating independent weather systems that generate dry lightning and accelerate fire spread beyond human control.

When a wildfire becomes sufficiently intense, it stops merely reacting to the weather and begins creating its own. These firestorms generate pyrocumulus clouds that reach altitudes of 12 kilometers, where powerful updrafts loft dense smoke and ash to form hailstones.

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