After the sky turned orange in New Zealand a few days ago from the smoke from the Australian bushfires [1], I stumbled across this blog post by Scott Bachmeier:

After the sky turned orange in New Zealand a few days ago from the smoke from the Australian bushfires [1], I stumbled across this blog post by Scott Bachmeier: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/35342 https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/35342 The post contains relevant satellite imagery taken from Himiwari-8 showing the creation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds from the fires, along with thermal imaging. There is also a technical explanation about how the thermal anomalies are detected. The smoke cloud is now heading to the middle of pacific ocean and is still visible from space [2] [1]: https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/118597927/in-pictures-aucklands-sky-turns-orange-as-australian-bushfire-smoke-moves-to-nz https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/118597927/in-pictures-auckl... [2]: https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&z=1&im=50&ts=6&st=20200105125036&et=20200108003037&speed=250&motion=loop&map=1&lat=0&opacity%5B0%5D=1&hidden%5B0%5D=0&pause=0&slider=-1&hide_controls=0&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&sec=full_disk&p%5B0%5D=geocolor&x=7070.933349609375&y=18008.533203125 https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&z=1&im=...