Time-Lapse Video Shows Swirling Vortex Of Fire

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A​ California wildfire spawned an apparent fire tornado Thursday, a phenomenon that's happened several times in recent years in the state.

Caught on camera: This large fire tornado was generated late Thursday afternoon by the Park Fire north of Chico, California, one of several large wildfires in the West, including Oregon's Durkee Fire in addition to one that devastated parts of Jasper, Alberta.

While the National Weather Service office in Sacramento did not receive any actual reports of a fire tornado, it was detected live by several webcams in the AlertCalifornia network,​ seen as a large, rotating plume of smoke.

Detected by radar: It's typical for radar to detect plumes of smoke particles generated by wildfires, particularly when they are fairly close to the radar.

H​owever, an NWS Doppler radar southeast of Chico also detected a couplet of strong rotation, similar to what you might see in the Plains in spring and indicative of the fire tornado.

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H​ow this happens: The intense heating in large, rapidly growing wildfires – as well as volcanic eruptions – can generate its own weather, similar to a thunderstorm. That's called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud.

In Thursday's case, that cloud resembling a thunderstorm could be seen both from the air and from a satellite.

T​here are several ways a fire tornado can form.

S​maller-scale, shorter-lived "fire whirls" can spin up as winds converge along the immediate fire front, resembling dancing, tight-spinning flames, such as one captured on video in Brazil in 2019.

L​arger-scale pyrogenetic tornadoes, such as the one caught on video Thursday, happen when the entire plume of the updraft rotates in an environment of wind shear, somewhat analogous to a supercell thunderstorm.

R​ecent examples: One spectacular example happened with the Downton Lake Fire last August in British Columbia, Canada.

D​uring the outbreak of California wildfires in August 2020, a fire tornado just north of Lake Tahoe spawned by the Loyalton Fire prompted a tornado warning from the NWS.

A​nd the most extreme recent example happened almost six years ago to the day in Northern California. The Carr Fire spawned a fire tornado that inflicted EF3 damage in Redding estimated wind speeds of at least 143 mph damaged homes that weren't burned by the fire itself.

A​n increasing problem: A 2022 study led by University of Nevada-Reno scientist Neil Lareau noted that while fire tornadoes are still rare, four of them happening from 2020 through 2022 in the context of more intense wildfires could mean they're becoming more frequent.

B​ut in a Friday morning post on X (formerly Twitter), Lareau said, "Don't concern yourself about (fire) 'tornadoes.'"

I​nstead, the most serious threat is from rapidly spreading wildfires fanned by strong winds over hot, dry terrain, such as we witnessed with the Park Fire.

M​ORE ON WEATHER.COM

-​ From 'Twister' To 'Twisters': How Tornado Science Has Changed Since 1996

-​ 2024's Severe Weather Recap, So Far

-​ Climate Change To Fuel More Intense Wildfires, Longer Fire Seasons

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. His lifelong love of meteorology began with a close encounter with a tornado as a child in Wisconsin. He completed a Bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then a Master's degree working with dual-polarization radar and lightning data at Colorado State University. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.