Smoke and other tiny airborne particles called aerosols have been linked to severe weather events before. Aerosols may quiet tropical storms and ramp up the amount of lightning dished out by thunderstorms, for instance. One study blamed human-made haze for an uptick in summer tornadoes and hailstorms, which are more common on weekdays along with exhaust-belching traffic.
Still, you won't hear about aerosols in local news coverage of storms; the science remains controversial. "There's a lot of debate in this area," says David Lerach, an atmospheric scientist at the University of North Colorado, in Greeley. "Some people think that the effects of aerosols on storms are insignificant, while others have staked their careers on it."
Even global climate change simulations struggle with aerosols, which along with clouds remain the single greatest source of uncertainty in those models.