Wildfires in Oregon, covering an area nearly half the size of Rhode Island, are actually producing their own weather.

Pyrocumulus clouds form as a result of the extremely hot air rising into the sky. Condensation occurs, which contributes to the formation of these storm clouds, often leading to dry thunderstorms, which in turn exacerbate the fires on the ground.

Wildfire smoke from fires out west is quite obvious on GOES-16 GeoColor imagery. Most of the smoke is aloft but northern portions of the area will see reduced air quality on Wednesday. An Air Quality Alert is in effect for the MD eastern shore #mdwx #vawx #ncwx pic.twitter.com/Rt6PZERpGh

— NWS Wakefield (@NWSWakefieldVA) July 20, 2021

Much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast have experienced hazy skies for the past few days as the smoke drifts east. That hazy sunshine will continue today with a high temp in the low 90’s before the development of some late day scattered thunderstorms.

Thursday is expected to be cooler, with partly cloudy skies and a high of 85 degrees.