A massive tire fire at a recycling plant on Thursday, September 20th, produced a 10 to 12 mile-long plume of thick, black smoke that appeared to enhance a thundercloud with rain. The plume of smoke, towering thousands of feet into the air, rolled over portions of Chandler and Gilbert before streaking across the central Valley.

How much this fire enhanced the thunderstorm that moved through the area is yet to be determined but NewsHawk 5 pilot/reporter Scott Clifton reported massive smoke rising into the building cumulus clouds which quickly erupted with rain and thunderstorms.

These where not pyro cumulonimbus clouds but never the less it was a interesting local meteorological event to see unfold on radar and from Newshawk 5

For information on Pyro Cumulonimbus Clouds see these papers below:

http://ams.confex.com/ams/Cambridge/techprogram/paper_92820.htm

http://www.atmos-chem-phys.org/7/645/2007/acp-7-645-2007.pdf

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:ePSiaxzDt5oJ:www.atmos-chem-phys.org/7/645/2007/acp-7-645-2007.pdf+micro+pyro+cumulonimbus&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Keep looking up,

SPG