Triple Tri Blog

A rare pyro-cumulus cloud billows towards the stratosphere behind the Hollywood Sign as the Station Fire triples in size in California on Sunday, Aug. 30th, 2009.

The strangely calm winds -- not normally associated with such blazes -- made the cloud possible.

The clouds are created by rapidly rising hot air from the fire. As the air soars up into colder elevations, it cools and reaches dew point, forming the gigantic clouds -- not unlike a thunderhead. So it's smoke and water seen here.

A pretty rare occurrence, leave it to Discovery channel to offer up this kind of thing. Hope conditions in the area calm down a bit and the firefighters can get the upper hand on these fires before they cause more damage.

[via Jess K.]