I’m not saying the apocalypse is here, but after a global pandemic, murder hornets, and now a fire tornado, uh … it seems pretty apocalyptic-y right now.
That’s right: A fire tornado. The ultra-rare weather phenomenon hit California on Saturday, when a brush fire got caught up in a tornado that ripped through the area. The fire got yanked up into the cyclone, and you could see smoke billowing up and out as the tornado ripped through the area.
It’s horrifying, very much of this year, and yes, there was video:
https://twitter.com/That1GirlTasha/status/1294790322749190144
As Washington Post meteorologist Matthew Cappucci explained, this may be the first time we’ve seen something like this happen before.
For the first time in history, a tornado warning has been issued for a likely *fire tornado*.
These are not "firewhirls." This is a rotating smoke plume being ingested into a pyrocumulonimbus cloud that could produce a bonafide fire-induced tornado.
Tornadic wind speeds. pic.twitter.com/KwtAMv3qVp
— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) August 15, 2020
Luckily, it doesn’t appear that anyone was hurt in the fire tornado. And if you had “fire tornado” in Apocalypse Bingo, make sure you fill out your square. Good stuff everyone.
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