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 of severe weather. The supercell is the strongest of the thunderstorms, most commonly associated with large hail, high winds, and tornado formation. Precipitable water values of greater than favor the development of organized thunderstorm complexes. Those with heavy rainfall normally have precipitable water values greater than . normally greater than , Upstream values of CAPE of greater than 800 J/kg are usually required for the development of organized convection. A mesoscale convective complex (MCC) is a unique kind of mesoscale convective system which is defined by characteristics observed in infrared satellite imagery. Their area of cold cloud tops exceeds with