Models fail to reproduce observations of the coldest regions in the Sun’s atmosphere, where interactions between multiple ionized and neutral species prevent an accurate MHD representation. We present evidence that a meter-scale electrostatic plasma instability develops in these regions, causing turbulence and heating. We refer to this instability as the Thermal Farley–Buneman Instability (TFBI). We simulate the TFBI and characterize the wave-driven heating, plasma transport, and turbulent motions. These results all contend that the TFBI contributes to the discrepancies between observations and radiative MHD models of the solar chromosphere.