Cumulonimbus flammagenitus (cloud) column of a volcano. In 2002, various sensing instruments detected 17 distinct cumulonimbus flammageniti in North America alone. Alternate spellings and abbreviations for cumulonimbus flammagenitus that may be found in the literature include Cb-Fg, pyrocumulonimbus, pyro-cumulonimbus, pyroCb, pyro-Cb, pyrocb, and pyro-cb. The World Meteorological Organization does not recognize the cumulonimbus flammagenitus as a distinct cloud type, but instead classifies it simply as cumulonimbus. On 18 January 2003, a supercell thunderstorm formed from a cumulonimbus flammagenitus cloud associated with a severe wildfire, during the 2003 Canberra bushfires in Canberra, Australia. The supercell resulted in a large fire tornado, rated at EF3
Mesoscale convective system Mesoscale convective system A mesoscale convective system (MCS) is a complex of thunderstorms that becomes organized on a scale larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones, and normally persists for several hours or more. A mesoscale convective system's overall cloud and precipitation pattern may be round or linear in shape, and include weather systems such as tropical cyclones, squall lines, lake-effect snow events, polar lows, and Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs), and generally form near weather fronts. The type that forms during the warm season over land has been noted across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a