A large mushroom cloud frightened the residents of the Russian city of Kazan.
Meteorologists had to come out with reassuring news.
– The cloud is indeed somewhat unusual, but you don’t have to believe that it was formed by an explosion or fire, says Timur Auchadaev at Tatarstan’s equivalent to SMHI.
Just before dusk on Wednesday evening, the eerie cloud towered in the sky above Russia’s fifth largest city. Worried residents posted pictures on social media and feared an accident.
But everything had a natural explanation. The phenomenon was a so-called pyrocumulus cloud.
– It is a kind of cumulonimbus cloud that forms over a heat source, for example forest fires or volcanic eruptions, says assistant professor Timur Auchadaev at the Meteorological Agency of Tatarstan to the newspaper Tatar Inform.
– Such mushroom clouds can also form over ponds, lakes or other large surfaces that emit steam. In calm winds, the evaporated moisture may well reach the stratosphere. The current weather situation created just such conditions.
The war in Ukraine, the repeated nuclear threats from Russian leaders and the recent drone attacks in Moscow helped to stir up the mood above the mushroom cloud in Kazan.
Also the state-controlled Russian news agency Ria went out and calmed the populace:
– This atmospheric phenomenon is called inversion or a vise cloud. It rises to an altitude of about 12-15 kilometers before it begins to thin out, an unnamed spokesperson for Tatarstan’s Ministry of Ecology said.
Similar clouds have also attracted attention in Sweden, including in Eskilstuna in April last year.
– When the sun heats the air at ground level, it rises and forms cumulus clouds. Now the sun is so strong that cumulus clouds can form. This type is simply a sign of spring and summer, said Emma Härenstam, meteorologist at SMHI, to the Eskilstuna courier.
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