Click for home pageLIST OF OBSERVABLE EVENTS

CHANNELLING PHEMOMENA

(1) Hot fire on lee-side of hill, lee wind field full of smoke
(2) Fire flank follows dog-leg around lee-slope
(3) Upwind edge of fire locked into break in slope
(4) Dense "orange" plume of smoke on upwind corner of fire, at top of a lee slope
(5) Fire jetting out of lee-slope eddy away from main fire
(6) Intense spotting on fire flank

WIND WAVE PHENOMENA

(7) Lenticularis cloud in areas
(8) Parallel bands of clouds, transverse to prevailing wind direction
(9) Geostationary clouds (forming on leading edge, decaying on trailing edge)

FOEHN WIND PHENOMENA

(10) Foehn Wall behind ranges
(11) Foehn Arch towards coast

LOW-LEVEL JET

(12) Low-level clouds & smoke moving much faster than indicated by surface wind speed

PYRO-CONVECTION PHENOMENA

(13) Cloud Forms in convection column
(14) Cloud forms while convection column still resisting mixing.
(15) Cloud in convection column collapses
(16) Cloud in convection column attains cauliflower texture
(17) Cloud in convection column forms an anvil

WIND CHANGE PHENOMENA

(18) Flank becomes headfire
(19) Two convection columns converge
(20) Convection column changes direction as it rises
(21) Thunderstorm(s) approach fire

VORTEX PHENOMENA

(22) Tornado (attached to base of cloud)
(23) Fire whirl (attached to ground)

NON-DIURNAL WEATHER PHENOMENA

(24) Sudden non-diurnal rise in temperature and fall in DP
(25) Fall in DP in second half of night at high altitudes
(26) Sudden non-diurnal fall in DP mid-afternoon
(27) Sudden non-diurnal fall in DP ahead of sea-breeze front
(28) Clear night, continental air mass
(29) Non-diurnal overnight escalation of fire behaviour, not linked to wind

UNUSUAL COMBUSTION PHENOMENA

(30) Burnt area reburns as a crown fire or similar
(31) Fire continues to accelerate up a canyon or gully
(32) Elongated flames stay underneath canopy on steep slope
(33) Ember storm


This material arises from work carried out by the HighFire Risk Project.
Material prepared by R. McRae September 2009.