NASA studies fire clouds during Oregon’s record 2.5 million-acre burn season
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon's 2026 wildfire season set a state record with nearly 2.5 million acres burned, surpassing the previous record of approximately 2 million acres. During the historic season, NASA researchers deployed to Central Oregon as part of the INSPYRE mission to study fire-generated clouds.
The severe fire season prompted crews nationwide and internationally to assist in Central Oregon, where several blazes became top national priorities, including the Akawa Butte Fire. Alongside emergency crews, NASA scientists gathered data on pyro-cumulus clouds—large thunderstorm systems created by intense heat and smoke rising from active wildfires.
David Peterson serves as the lead principal investigator for the INSPYRE mission at NASA. Peterson emphasized that fire-generated clouds remain a relatively new subject for scientific research. “These fire generated clouds are relatively new area of study. And they're still not that well understood, other than they seem to form over large and intense wildfires. But we really don't know the dynamics of that fire. You know, how much of an area is burning at the time? How hot is the fire? And at the same time, what is the atmosphere condition above that fire and how is that helping to generate the thunderstorm environment,” Peterson said.
The mechanism behind these formations involves intense heat and atmospheric interaction. John Carroll, chief meteorologist at KTVZ, detailed how pyro-cumulus clouds form and affect local conditions. “A pyro cumulus cloud is a fascinating feature around a wildfire and it can be seen for miles and miles around as the smoke column rises. It is a cloud that forms above a fire. In fact, let's think about it. The heat from the fire rises up. Hot air rises. We know that happens. And so the heat from that burning fire rises with all those particles from the fire. And of course, moisture within those particles rises and gets to a special level called the condensation level, which is cooler and that generates that cloud that is well above that fire. Lightning can form inside of that. It can be generated by the friction of the molecules mashing against each other.And we could have lightning strikes and possibly even some outflow winds from that, which is very dangerous as far as fighting the fire is concerned. It's a fascinating feature over top of a fire. We saw one this year over the Akawa Butte Fire that caused a lot of trouble down at the surface, but generally these are large cumulus clouds that form over a fire, hence the name pyro cumulus fire cloud,” Carroll said.
To conduct the atmospheric study, NASA deployed multiple aircraft equipped with specialized technology. Researchers operated a Gulfstream jet alongside a converted U-2 plane, allowing scientists to investigate pyro-cumulus clouds at varying altitude levels.
Understanding these storm systems provides critical data for ground operations and safety. Peterson noted that insights gained from the research have direct applications for emergency personnel. “It has real world impacts in terms of what's going on in the fire environment and how that might affect the firefighters and and the suppression efforts. So if we can better understand which fires are producing these storms, it will lend to better fire efforts attacking the fire, but also when you have to do evacuation efforts and other things,” Peterson said.
This research marks the first season of data collection for NASA's INSPYRE mission. Researchers hope to analyze the data gathered from fires across the West to learn more ahead of next year's fire season.
