More firenadoes feared as raging California blazes create their own ‘self-contained weather systems’
August 19, 2020
As wildfires burn across California, videos of an unnerving phenomenon called "fire tornadoes" are circulating the internet. According to Bloomberg, fire tornadoes are the result of self-contained weather systems that cause an updraft that draws in winds.
"If the blaze is big enough, the rising air can create a billowing pyrocumulus, or fire cloud, that can stir dry lightning and even push more wind into the mix. The dense cloud can resembles an erupting volcano’s plume," Bloomberg reports.
The phenomenon creates even more danger for firefighters battling the blazes, which can generate such strong winds that they reach tornadic speeds.
Watch video of the phenomenon below:
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