Sir Ivan Fire pyroCb in New South Wales, Australia

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Longwave Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above / MP4 ; zoomed-in over fire source region: GIF / MP4) showed wildfires burning in New South Wales, Australia on 12 February 2017. The larger Sir Ivan fire near Dunedoo produced a pyroCb cloud, which first cooled below the -40ºC Longwave Infrared brightness temperature threshold at 0530 UTC (-47ºC) and quickly reached its minimum temperature of -56.6ºC at 0540 UTC. An animation of  HI\imawari-8 true-color images is available here (courtesey of Dan Lindsey).

Consecutive true-color images from Suomi NPP VIIRS (0402 UTC) and Aqua MODIS (0405 UTC) viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the large smoke plume about 1.5 hours prior to pyroCb development.

A high fire danger was well-anticipated across this portion of Australia:

#Australia #heatwave. Heat and winds mean risk of “extreme to catastrophic” #fire danger conditions in New South Wales Sunday, @BOM_au pic.twitter.com/kKEgw6OqyD

— WMO | OMM (@WMO) February 12, 2017

Some ground-based photos of the pyroCb cloud:

This is the Sir Ivan fire about an hour ago. Danger not passed for local communities yet. #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/1CqdLfR5Y8

— Rob Rogers (@robrfs) February 12, 2017

Sir Ivan fire from Dunedoo #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/3KiyI7bMwL

— Rob Rogers (@robrfs) February 12, 2017

Suomi NPP OMPS Aerosol Index images (courtesy of Colin Seftor) shows the transport of smoke on 12 February . The maximum AI was found to be 9.3 at 32.6 S 150.9 E around 4:02 UTC. This max AI is near the source of the pyroCb.