That's what creates the 'fire clouds' that look much like the thunderheads seen before a big thunderstorm. As the air with more moisture rises, it rushes up the smoke column into the atmosphere, and the moisture condenses into droplets. When air over the fire becomes super-heated, it rises in a large column. Pyrocumulus clouds - literally translated as 'fire clouds' - look like giant, dirty-colored thunderheads that sit atop a massive column of smoke coming up from a wildfire. The blaze has stymied firefighters for nearly a week with erratic winds and extremely dangerous fire behavior. The dangerous columns of smoke and ash that can reach up to 6 miles in the sky and are visible from more than 100 miles away.įire crews have been forced to flee some areas as the clouds hit them with strong downdrafts and flying embers. The fire clouds can also create their own weather systems and thunderclouds, causing lightning that can spark further fires. The fire is moving at an astonishing rate, equivalent to an entire football field every 5 seconds covering an area larger than Manhattan's Central Park every 60 minutes.Īnd smoke and heat from the inferno is creating pyrocumulus clouds - also known as fire clouds - over the blaze. at 241,496 acres, or 377 square miles - larger than the area of New York City - with active flames surging along a front 200 miles long. The Bootleg Fire is now the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. The massive Bootleg wildfire in southeastern Oregon is spreading at a rate of 1,000 acres every hour with smoke and heat from the massive blaze is so intense that giant 'fire clouds' are being created overhead.

In eastern Montana an excessive heat watch is in effect this weekend where temperatures can reach 106 degrees with nighttime lows of 70 degreesīy Associated Press and James Gordon For.Spokane, Washington is expected to hit 100 degrees Sunday, while Eureka, Montana could hit 101 degrees F.The heat wave is expected to develop over this weekend, peak around Monday and is spreading over an area where multiple wildfires have flared up.Upcoming heat wave is forecast to bring triple-digit temperatures to at least 16 million people, particularly in the central and northern Rockies.Fire first started 10 days ago in the Fremont-Winema National Forest has charred 241,496 acres.The Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire in the United States this year, and is just and 7% contained.

Bootleg wildfire in Oregon is growing by 1,000 acres every HOUR and is creating dangerous 'fire clouds' which generate their own lightning and can dump embers on firefighters battling the nation's biggest blaze

Bootleg fire