California Fire Science Seminar Series

Presenter: Neil Lareau, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno

Large, high-intensity wildfires can generate their own extreme weather, including fire-generated thunderstorms (i.e., pyrocumulonimbus) and rare fire-tornados.  My research aims to understand these phenomena using state-of-the-science radars and lidars, which can probe the internal dynamics of wildfire convective plumes.  This talk will use these data to examine:

1. Tornadic vortices generated during the Carr and Loyalton Fires
2. Smaller, but still intense, vortices generated in both prescribed and wildland fire.
3. The extreme updrafts occurring inside pyrocumulonimbus clouds. 

Collectively these analyses help paint a clearer picture of how and when wildfires produce extreme weather, paving the way for nowcasting and warning for high-impact extreme fire behavior.