I know that less rain causes forest fires, but do forest fires cause less rain?

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From what I remember from high school geography and earth sciences, rain comes from clouds when the clouds get cold. So in Bangladesh it rains a lot because the clouds from the ocean are pushed further and further up against the Himalaya Mountains and it’s colder the further up you go, so it rains a lot.

Well, if that is true, during a forest fire it must get very, very hot above the forest fire, which would make it more difficult for the rain clouds to get cold and release the water, prolonging forest fires even more.

Is this how it works?

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Interestingly enough, forest fires often cause rain downwind.

The fires cause more moisture in the air locally — from evaporation and boiling. This type of cloud is called a “fire storm cloud”. When this cloud cools down enough, it rains. This is super common. The atmosphere is REALLY BIG and so the heat of the fire goes away really quickly.

This is made even more likely because the smoke from the fire can block some of the sunlight so the air doesn’t get warmed as much.

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