A bizarre and dangerous phenomenon of nature: fire tornadoes! +Videos
Weather phenomena are extremely fascinating and reveals how wonderful and unique is our world. Along with many others, such as tsunamis, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, tornadoes of fire is a natural phenomenon that has the ability to wreak havoc.
We've lost control of this planet somewhere. There's an echo in that kind of fire tornado situation, where you're powerless facing those phenomena. - Francis Alys - Source -
Although most of the tornadoes of fire takes only a few minutes, they have the ability to move with great speed, causing significant damage. They are even capable of lifting cars or houses, as well as traditional tornadoes. However, the most significant similarity is that sandstorms are formed when hot sand rises.
Why these tornadoes occur?
The energy released by the flame causes the hot air to rise. Also, the wind tending the fire, causing it to spin. Of course, drafts must be circular, as in if they are obstructed, as happens for example at the foot of a mountain. The fire usually starts from bushes or dry vegetation that is easily ignited (by lightning or man) but can also be caused by an accumulation of natural events such as fire tornado of 1923 in Kanto, Japan.
The earthquake from Kanto in 1923 has created a tornado of fire that was 90 meters high and killed 38,000 people. Below you can see a fire tornado formed in Mauna Kea in Hawaii in 2010.
This footage of a 3,000-foot-high fire tornado was captured in Western Australia by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
A fire whirl consists of a core, the part that is actually on fire, and an invisible rotating pocket of air. A fire whirl can reach up to 1,090 °C, hot enough to potentially reignite ashes sucked up from the ground. Large fire whirls can create wind speeds of more than 160 km/h, strong enough to knock down trees and people who get caught by a fire whirl can be burned alive. Fire whirls cannot be extinguished directly and can last for an hour or more.
In the eye of the tornado, there's no more high and low, no floor and sky. - Francis Alys - Source -
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Ok, thanks!
Woah! Now that is incredible.
Very interesting tornadoes and dangerous I would agree. I could only imagine being the firefighters in the video. What would you do?
Thanks for sharing,
~ @Timbo
:D glad you like it @timbo! I can't say what would I do because I'm not in that situation. I think it's different when you are in a situation like that. I would do one thing for sure: I will enjoy it for every second!
I didn't know about the existence of such phenomena. Very impressive!
I was very surprised when I saw it too. Glad you like it @lemouth.