NWS Issues America’s First-Ever Firenado Warning

This sounds like something off of a terrible SyFy movie, but in all actuality it's just 2020.

This year has been full of odd and crazy events. We often hear people say "What will 2020 bring us next?" Well, the answer to that question is something that we never expected...a firenado.

Yes, I said a FIRENADO!

According to USA Today, the firenado brought on by conditions in the ongoing Loyalton Fire in Northern California, was recorded Saturday by the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada. As a result of the crazy conditions surrounding it, the National Weather Service in Reno had to issue a tornado warning to residents related to the fire. This was the first warning of it's kind.

Dawn Johnson, senior meteorologist with the weather service, told USA Today:

Preliminary reports indicate the tornado spawned by the fire was the equivalent of an EF-1, which packs three-second wind gusts between 86 mph and 110 mph, or an EF-2, with three-second gusts between 111 mph and 135 mph.

So what cause this firenado that occurred east of Loyalton, California, and west of Cold Springs, Nevada? The firennado was a result of the harsh heating of The Loyalton Wildfire that had burned over 20,000 acres.

The fire tornado was generated because of the intense heating of the wildfire, Johnson said. The Loyalton Fire had burned 20,000 acres as of Sunday afternoon with no containment, according to the Tahoe National Forest. According to the report by USA Today,

"This is a very similar process to what we'd see in the thunderstorm where you'd get these rising updrafts in a thunderstorm and the thunderstorm clouds grow to 30,000, 40,000 feet," Johnson said. "But, in this case, it was a fire and it was smoke."
All of the air rushing upwards has to be replaced at the surface, Johnson said. As air comes back it, sometimes, starts to rotate. Due to wind shear on Saturday, the air that was rising from the fire and the air that was replacing it started to rotate.

You know as well as I do, that it won't take long for SyFy to create the "Sharknado" spin-off, "Firenado". Except this time, it's something that could actually happen! We've had a global pandemic, "Tiger King", Murder Hornets, several celebrity deaths and scandals, riots, and more. Now, we can add firenado to that list. I am literally afraid to ask what is next. At this point, there's no telling. Expect the unexpected!