Sometimes, wildfires can create their own weather.
Pyrocumulonimbus are an explosive storm cloud actually created by the smoke and heat from a wildfire.
Some of the ferocious wildfires this summer in the West have spawned fire whirls.
2021 has been a brutally hot, dry summer in the western U.S., with hundreds of heat records broken amid an unprecedented drought that's created a tinderbox for ferocious wildfires.
Weather often contributes to the growth and spread of wildfires, with high heat, low humidity, gusty winds and lack of rainfall among the prime culprits. But fires can also influence the weather.
Sometimes, wildfires can create a scary witch's brew of weather including pyrocumulus clouds, thunderstorms, dry lightning and even fire tornadoes.