Put a fork in it, it's done ...

Flames consumes both sides of a segment of Lake Berryessa during the Hennessey fire 

in the Spanish Flat area of Napa, California on August 18, 2020. JOSH EDELSON/AFP

This surreal image from hell is just the beginning of a hells scape destined to change the world for the worst for hundreds of years as global warming is already baked in no matter what we do in the near term. With this in mind, the notion of an Elysium comes to mind here as the acceleration of this existential nightmare reminds us that we did it to ourselves.

The Age of Megafires: The World Hits a Climate Tipping Point

From Siberia to Australia to the western U.S., massive fires have consumed millions of acres this year and spawned fire-generated tornados and other phenomena rarely seen before. Scientists say the world has entered a perilous new era that will demand better ways of fighting wildfires.

Like so many aspects of the burgeoning number of wildfires, the increase in lightning is connected to climate change. Lighting increases by about 12 percent for every 1 degree Celsius temperature increase. Simple mathematics, and many studies, suggest that there will be much more lightning in some places as temperatures rise by another 2 or 3 degrees C this century in wildlands that are already severely stressed by drought, disease, and insects such as the mountain pine beetle.

Thunderstorms created by the energy of intense fires, known as pyroCbs, have occurred in the past. But they were once rare and few people suspected that they could shoot out lightning that would trigger blazes 20 miles from the fire’s front, as one did in the Alberta tar sands region in 2016. Five pyroCbs erupted in 2017 in the forests of British Columbia and Washington within the space of just five hours — the mother of all pyroCb events, according to David Peterson a meteorologist with the U.S. Naval Defense Lab. No one expected anything to rival that until this year’s fires in Australia generated at least 18 pyroCbs.

Many experts no longer think that Scandinavia and the east coast of North America will be spared because it is expected to be wetter there in the future. Sweden needed outside help to deal with record fires in 2018. The Pinelands of New Jersey may get a lot rain, but 10 days of blue skies, high temperatures, and gusty winds can nevertheless create prime fire conditions. People who live in the Pinelands know this all too well based on the region’s prolific fire history.

Last but not least ... the cost factor as it's only to go up.

Graphs showing wildfire frequency, severity, and firefighting costs in the United States from 1985 to 2017. COURTESY OF THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS

A pyroCbs portrait.

A pyrocumulonimbus cloud towers over thick smoke from fires burning near Canberra, Australia, in 2003. The cloud's strong winds caused the fires to explode into the Australian city. Credit: New South Wales Rural Fire Service

Pyrocumulonimbus is the fire-breathing dragon of clouds.

A pyrocumulonimbus storm combines smoke and fire with the features of a violent thunderstorm. Pollutants from these storms are funneled into the stratosphere. 

A cumulonimbus without the "pyre" part is imposing enough -- a massive, anvil-shaped tower of power reaching five miles (8 km) high, hurling thunderbolts, wind and rain.

Add smoke and fire to the mix and you have pyrocumulonimbus, an explosive storm cloud actually created by the smoke and heat from fire, and which can ravage tens of thousands of acres. And in the process, "pyroCb" storms funnel their smoke like a chimney into Earth's stratosphere, with lingering ill effects. 

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