California Fire Tornado

[Stinkerbell]

A rare and fiery tornado was spotted Saturday near a fire in California. The National Weather Service Office issued a tornado warning for a pyrocumulonimbus cloud that formed by the Loyalton Fire, saying it was "capable of producing a fire-induced tornado and outflow winds in excess of 60 mph," CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.

A pyrocumulonimbus cloud forms above intense rising heat, typically from a fire or volcano. 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.

Fire tornadoes can be massive and deadly. In 2018, one claimed the lives of a firefighter and bulldozer driver battling the Carr Fire. When the National Weather Service surveyed the damage on that fire tornado, it determined it was equivalent to an EF-3 tornado with winds in excess of 143 mph.

Officials in California, Oregon and Colorado are battling a series of wildfires that have collectively torched more than 100,000 acres -- and things could get worse with intense heat descending on much of the U.S.

The Loyalton Fire has burned 20,000 acres and was 5% contained by early Sunday. It's burning east of the town of Loyalton.

[Squid]

We need to change our ways in regard to greenhouse gases immediately.  Things like this are only going to worsen if we don't.  130 degrees in Death Valley.  Unreal.

[Mayhem]

That's crazy! I agree, it's only going to get worse if we don't do something about it.

[Stinkerbell]

I have a facebook friend ( I also posted the video there ) who actually works for the forestry service and plays a major part in fighting fires. She doesn't fight them, but she transports fighters to other areas of the fires, helps determine where they should go, etc. Anyway, she posted on my post and said they're aren't rare at all. They happen often in CA fires.