In 2011, a New Mexico wildfire went from normal to nuclear, kicking up a 45,000-foot column of tornadic winds and burning debris. Three local scientists set out to learn why. Below, a breakdown of how a the 2011 Las Conchas wildfire blew up on June 27. This way for the full story.
The blowup:
Experts expected the fire to die down with the cool night air. Instead, it flared into an inferno. Here’s the likely culprit.
This article was originally published in the July/August 2017 Extreme Weather issue of Popular Science.