Rare 'Firenado' Spotted as Heat Wave Scorches California; Probably the First Time
A rare 'firenado' warning was issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) due to a raging wildfire Saturday near Loyalton in California.
The California wildfire grew to 2,300 acres and was first reported on Friday afternoon. It has been battled by about 300 firefighters from California agencies and the U.S. Forest Service.
It started in Sierra County in the Tahoe National Forest, NBC News reported. The firenado warning was issued shortly before 3 p.m. that day.
Wendell Hohmann, the NWS forecaster who penned the term "firenado," said it was the first time to his knowledge that a tornado warning of this nature was issued. "It's probably the first time it's been issued outside of a thunderstorm environment," he said in a Sacramento Bee report.
Washington Post meteorologist Matthew Cappucci also had the same thoughts, explaining the event. He stressed that the warning is not "firewhirls."
In his tweet, Cappucci said that the Loyalton even is a "rotating smoke plume" that was absorbed into a cloud. The phenomenon could produce a real fire-induced tornado, he said.
While rare, firenado does happen. They are caused when hot air from fire becomes twisted by wind changing direction.
It is much like the more common land tornado, except firenado combine winds with smoke plumes. This creates especially unsafe conditions.
Forecasters warned residents who live nearby to stay out of the fire zone. By 3:30 p.m., the fire clouds saw some signs of weakening, said Reno NWS.
The warning was put down eventually, but forecasters are still asking people to stay alert as the wildfire still behaves in an extreme way. NWS said that kind of fire behavior might continue well into the evening.
Erratic Fire Behavior
"The big concern is that it's extremely erratic fire behavior," said John Mittelstadt, a Reno-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Mittelstadt said the firefighters have no way of finding out what the winds are going to do and how strong they will likely be.
As of Saturday evening, the Loyalton fire has already burned down thousands of acres of land.
Only five percent of the blaze has been contained, and it roared over a ridge, moving towards Highway 395. The Nevada Highway Patrol detoured drivers off the 395 before the California border, said a CBS San Francisco report.
Evacuations Ordered
The Loyalton Fire is mainly burning through Sierra County. Officials from Tahoe National Forest said most of the blaze is taking up grass, sage, and juniper.
They warned that a smoke column would be seen throughout the Sierra Valley and North Reno.
For residents living near Highway 70, they were required to get away from the area. The area is closed from Highway 49 to Highway 395.
The Chilcoot area and Scott Rd were among those required to move away from the danger zone.
Firenado Before
Back in 2018, the term "firenado" first came to California's consciousness because of the fatal Carr fire. It destroyed over a thousand homes and killed eight people in Northern California.
Mittelstadt described it as a "huge, huge tornado" that had wind gusts reaching 100 mph. "That was the granddaddy," he said.
According to Mittelstadt, Saturday's firenado has wind gusts, which reached about 60 mph.
California is looking at a scorching few coming days as a heatwave continues to scorch the region.
On Friday, the extreme temperatures caused rolling blackouts across California as the state's power grid was overwhelmed.
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