California Wildfire Made Its Own Hail

A wildfire burning in northeastern California created some wild weather this week – including hail.

A photographer at the scene described the dime-sized pieces of ice that dropped on the flames Tuesday.

"As if this fire couldn't get any weirder! A smoke column from the #Hogfire collided with a storm cell evolving into a hail storm (w/lightning) that dropped dime-sized hail RIGHT on the fire!" Josh Edelson posted on Twitter. "The temp@dropped 40 degrees in like 10 min.!"

The Hog Fire, burning just outside Susanville, California, has scorched more than 14 square miles and prompted evacuation orders and road closures in Lassen County, near the Nevada state line.

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It's fairly normal for a wildfire to create weather that produces rain, thunder and lightning. But hail isn't typically part of that.

"Pyrocumulus clouds that produce rain are not at all unusual ... many big fires have these clouds," weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles explained.

Pyrocumulus clouds form when heat from a fire causes air to rise into the atmosphere, where it then cools and condenses. Storms building up in the region of the Hog Fire boosted that process.

"The pyrocumulus clouds that developed downwind of the hot Hog Fire were given an extra bump in intensity by thunderstorms that developed in the northern Sierra Nevada," Belles said. "This extra jump in the height of these clouds, combined with the ash and other debris from the fire, which act like magnets for raindrops and hailstones, helped create hail Tuesday afternoon."

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Belles also noted that the weather created by fires can present a danger to first responders.

"The lightning that comes from these pyrocumulus clouds, or actually pyrocumulonimbus when you throw in thunder, is a worry of firefighters," he said. "They have to watch for both fire and lightning, and also additional lightning-sparked fires."

The Hog Fire also produced a firewhirl, sometimes called a fire tornado. It's a phenomenon that happens when superheated air from an intense wildfire rises rapidly and begins to spin.

The Hog Fire is one of two that forced residents to flee their homes in Lassen County. The nearby Gold Fire has burned more than 22 square miles and injured one firefighter.

A red flag warning for fire weather in the area was lifted, but warm, dry conditions are forecast to persist in the coming days.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.