California: Video Captures 'Fire Tornado' As Firefighters Continue To Fight Multiple Blazes Across The State
It is one of the latest signs of extreme weather threatening the US West, which is facing severe drought and record high temperatures. US Forest Service captured the jaw-dropping video and described it as a "spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire."
A rare fire-induced tornado has been captured on video at the Tennant fire in northern California. It is one of the latest signs of extreme weather threatening the US West, which is facing severe drought and record high temperatures.
The jaw-dropping video
of the extreme weather condition
was captured by US Forest Service, describing it as a "spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire", BBC reported.
Here is a video of a fire whirl from the #TennantFire on June 29th. After a survey from the IMET, this was likely the rotation our radar was picking up on the 29th. Credit to the US Forest Service for taking this video. #CAwx #fire #fireseason pic.twitter.com/MMQLguZAZR
¡ª NWS Medford (@NWSMedford) July 7, 2021
The uncommon weather occurrence reportedly was spotted at the Tennant fire in Klamath National Forest on June 29. Video of the tornado shows black smoke spinning near the fire's flames.
According to BBC News, fire tornadoes occur in extreme conditions when ground-level winds come into contact with fire and whip it into the air, creating a tornado-shaped spiral of flames.
Our radar indicated anticyclonic rotation on the 29th as shown by the red outbound and green inbound winds in the radar image below. pic.twitter.com/LWbwowkFbA
¡ª NWS Medford (@NWSMedford) July 7, 2021
Last month's fire tornado was so powerful, the National Weather Service's radar picked it up, capturing as much as 30 minutes of the rotation, meteorologist Charles Smith told the Los Angeles Times.
"Our radar indicated anticyclonic rotation on the 29th as shown by the red outbound and green inbound winds in the radar image below," the weather service wrote on Twitter.
Twitter/@NWSMedford
Captain Tom Stokesberry of the Tennant fire's incident team told the newspaper it was one of the first times a fire tornado registered on radar and was captured by video. The spiral even uprooted some trees, he said.
The fire has seared through more than 10,000 acres and was 81% contained, the outlet reported. Crews throughout the state are still battling several other wildfires.
