Posted on Sat, Sep. 19, 2009

Smoke clouds

If conditions are right, you can definitely get a cloud to form above a burning field. The smoke provides some of the moisture as well as the "condensation nuclei" for the humidity in the air to glom on to. As the rising air cools, the condensation can turn into a cloud. It's not likely to produce a thunderstorm from a burning field, although it has been known to occur with larger wildfires like the recent ones in California.

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