California, United States — A rare fire tornado has been spotted near a blaze in California.
The rare and fiery tornado was spotted near a fire in California. The CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said that the National Weather Service Office has issued a tornado warning for a pyrocumulonimbus cloud that formed by the Loyalton Fire. The NWSO says that it is “capable of producing a fire-induced tornado and outflow winds in excess of 60 mph.”
A pyrocumulonimbus cloud is formed typically from a fire or volcano due to the intense rising heat. Fire tornadoes are created when the rising heat from a fire pulls in smoke, fire and dirt, creating a rotation vortex above the blaze, Brink said.
While fire tornadoes can be massive and deadly, a fire in 2018 claimed the lives of a firefighter and bulldozer driver battling the Carr Fire. When the damage on that Firenado was surveyed by the National Weather Service, it showed that it was equivalent to an EF-3 tornado with winds in excess of 143 mph.
The Californian Officials along with the officials in Oregon and Colorado are battling a series of wildfires that is known to have torched more than 100,000 acres. It is expected to get much worse with the intense heat descending on most of the parts of United States.
The Loyalton Fire has burned 20,000 acres and was 5% contained by early Sunday. It’s burning east of the town of Loyalton.
