What is a fire tornado? Here's how they form
Intense wildfires could spawn a rare weather event known as a fire tornado
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When intense wildfires take place, they sometimes spawn a rare weather event known as a fire tornado.
Fire tornados, also known as fire vortices or fire whirls, are not tornadoes in the true sense.
They occur when a gust of extremely hot air blows through the fire at a certain angle, producing a spinning momentum that then sucks up embers and debris.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HOW STRONG CAN TORNADOES GET? HERE'S A BREAKDOWN
In August 2020, a wildfire in Northern California spawned a fire tornado that prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue a tornado warning.
This photo provided by Katelynn and Jordan Hewlett, a funnel appears in a thick plume of smoke from the Loyalton Fire is seen in Lassen County, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. (atelynn and Jordan Hewlett via AP)
Wendell Hohmann, the NWS meteorologist who wrote the tornado warning, told the Sacramento Bee it was the first time to his knowledge of a tornado warning of this nature.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s probably the first time it’s been issued outside of a thunderstorm environment,” Hohmann said.
Weather service officials said the Loyalton Fire was showing extreme behavior, such as gusty winds and blowing smoke, similar to a deadly Northern California fire that destroyed more than 1,000 homes and killed 8 people
In 2018, the massive Carr Fire in California produced a vortex with winds clocked at 143 mph by the National Weather Service (NWS), a wind speed equivalent to an EF-3 tornado on the Fujita scale.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Firenadoes are an extreme weather phenomenon that can occur with rotating fire columns," the NWS Reno tweeted. "As extreme as this behavior is, the #CarrFire had an extreme example of this."
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According to the NWS, a pyrocumulus cloud forms if there is enough moisture and atmospheric instability over the "intense heat source."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The National Weather Service issued a rare fire tornado – or “firenado” – warning for a fire whirl whipped up by the Loyalton Fire, which is burning near the California border outside Reno on Saturday. (@DylynW via Storyful)
The explosive storms can form during a fire when heat and moisture from the plants are released, even when the fuel is relatively dry.
The hotter the fire, the faster the air rises and the tighter it twists until it takes off as a tornado
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Similar conditions were seen during devastating wildfires earlier in 2020 in Australia and another blaze in Northern California.
A fire whirl shoots into the sky as flames from the Hog fire jump highway 36 about 5 miles from Susanville, California on July 20, 2020. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Fire vortices are typically smaller, and not large enough to warrant anything like the tornado warning that was issued due to the Loyalton Fire.
NWS meteorologist Dawn Johnson told USA Today that preliminary reports say the fire tornado whipped up by the Loyalton Fire was an EF-1, with winds between 86 mph and 110 mph, or an EF-2, packing winds between 111 mph and 135 mph.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There have not been very many of these that have been documented," she told USA Today, adding she was only been able to find documentation for four firenadoes in the last 15 to 20 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.