Gathering rare airborne observations of firestorm clouds

Just minutes into a planned research flight from Colorado to Oregon in August to study massive storm clouds fueled by intense wildfires, scientists discovered that a fire in Utah offered a more promising target. The mission support staff on the ground scrambled to draw up a new flight plan, and the pilots of the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) Gulfstream V worked to get the green light from air traffic controllers to fly toward the wildfire-generated thunderstorm.