2018: The Fire Tornado Near Redding, California (Blog Update #18)

A fire tornado? Yes, it really is a thing. The fire tornado is Redding had winds on par with those of an EF3 tornado. This fire tornado was a part of of the Carr Fire Event.

Intense wildfires almost always produce fire devils and/or fire whirls, and occasionally stronger vortexes that resemble the tornadoes produced by severe thunderstorms.

Image of an extremely strong "fire tornado" as videotaped from a CAL FIRE helicopter near Redding, CA, on July 26, 2018. Courtesy: Cal Fire

Assessments of the tornado have determined that it had winds speeds and an estimated 143 miles per hour. Unfortunately, one fireman lost his life when he became caught in the tornado's path.

The National Weather service recognizes fire tornadoes as the following:

FIRE TORNADOES - These systems begin to dominate the large-scale fire dynamics. They lead to extreme hazard and control problems. In size, they average 100 to 1,000 feet in diameter and have rotational velocities up to 90 mph.

To see the arial video of the fire tornado, click here.

The 2018 fire tornado ranks as one of the most anomalous weather-related events in modern U.S. history.