First-Ever Fire Tornado Warning Issued By National Weather Service in California
The 2020 Apocalypse Bingo card is almost full.
Unprecedented fire tornado warning issued in California after a fiery twister forms in a record-setting heat wave.#California #LassenCounty #LoyaltonFire #Firenado @CBS46 pic.twitter.com/aIM2HnxioX
— . (@shongables) August 16, 2020
To state the obvious: 2020 has been one hell of a year. Incredibly tragic celebrity deaths, the novel coronavirus pandemic, huge socio-cultural and political upheavals—not to mention plagues of locusts and heatwaves. And on August 15, 2020, the National Weather Service issued its first-ever warning for a fire tornado.
That’s right. A tornado. Of fire.
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
Atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci explained how incredible this was in a tweet featuring screengrabs of the actual warning as well as a tornadic signature on radar:
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.
We’ve written about fire vortexes and the fire whirl that rose from a burning bourbon distillery, but Cappucci made it clear this was a different animal. So did multiple awe-inspiring and frankly terrifying videos and images posted on social media.
https://twitter.com/rrossjd/status/1294816200254529537
The "Fire Tornado" #LoyaltonFire is less than 20 miles away.
Here's some photos my friend took on the road sometime this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/jR076cmVwR
— Hey G. (@Destiny22Ginger) August 16, 2020
I don't think I'd call it 'gorgeous', but this is a scientific first — not a 'fire whirl' but an actual fire Tornado.
2020, the year of Apocalypses. https://t.co/fII3KE7mhn
— DrJackBrown 🌊 (@DrGJackBrown) August 16, 2020
Watch : A Fire Tornado in northern California (15th August)#LoyaltonFire
Video : DVRockJockeypic.twitter.com/ateNi8o3qa— Da Shark (@SharkNewsWires) August 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/SVNewsAlerts/status/1294820373561847808
The Sacramento Bee contacted the forecaster who wrote the warning and he said that it was indeed “probably the first time” such an alert has “been issued outside of a thunderstorm environment.”
Later Saturday night, Mother Nature doubled down by hitting the San Francisco Bay area with an epic electrical storm.
Ya local meteorologist back at it again 😳 Mother Nature said aht aht no more sleep this morning lmaoooo #BayAreaweather #Lightning #thunderstorm #FireTornado pic.twitter.com/RwOhtAfLzq
— COCO (@simpinshawty) August 16, 2020
Nothing like a thunderstorm waking up the whole Bay at 330 AM ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/PuJirU66eo
— JSquared (@_JordanJimenez) August 16, 2020
Today in Oakland it was 91 thousand damn degrees and now it's raining.
Go home sky, you're drunk.#oakland #thunderstorm #lightning pic.twitter.com/nPC8ECv9pm
— Diana Helmuth (@defnotlost) August 16, 2020
As of August 16th there were no warnings of plagues of frogs or alien invasions. But give it time—2020 isn’t done with us yet.
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