California fire tornadoes had winds up to 125 mph
California’s Creek Fire, which has torched nearly 300,000 acres and become California’s largest wildfire on record was still only a third contained as of Wednesday. Like other blazes this year, it grew rapidly in size during periods of hot and dry weather with strong winds, burning tens of thousands of acres in a single night.
Now we know that the fire featured a rare phenomenon that demonstrates just how extreme it was, with the National Weather Service’s announcement Wednesday afternoon that two fire tornadoes were associated with this blaze.
The two vortices, one rated an EF2 while the other was an EF1, were produced by the fire, as the extreme heat from the blaze and towering smoke plume above it essentially created its own weather.
California’s wildfire smoke plumes are unlike anything previously seen
Unlike firewhirls, which can commonly be seen forming from the ground up over campfires and even small brushfires, fire tornadoes are actual tornadoes. They are born from rotating clouds or smoke plumes in environments where winds change speed and/or direction with height. The funnels themselves aren’t filled with fire, but rather a superheated column of smoke, ash and debris.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/california-fire-tornadoes-had-winds-up-to-125-mph/ar-BB19olhE?li=BBnb7Kz