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bjdeming

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Uh..."pyro-meso"? This is four hours of the Caldor Fire on the 17th; per current reports today, it's growing and 0% contained. Wonder if there will be pyrotornado warnings on this.

 

MNTornadoGuy

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The March 6, 2017 Southern Plains wildfire outbreak is a completely overshadowed and basically forgotten event despite the extent of devastation that occurred. 7 people were killed, 1.2 million acres burned, and at least 87 structures were destroyed. Some fires ran 40+ miles in only 5 hours. In addition, the fires generated at least 2 fire vortices that were visible on radar, the only such case of that occurring on the plains that I know of. One had a rotational velocity of 43.7 kts while the 2nd one had a rotational velocity of 38.4 kts. This Vrot is usually associated with EF1-EF2 tornadoes.


E_hMU4YX0AMjW7W.jpg
E_hMWnuXMAMnrTb.jpg
 

MNTornadoGuy

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That’s amazing. That’s one of the largest and most well defined pyro tornadoes I’ve ever seen.
I wonder if stuff like this happens more often then we think but only now is it being readily documented. I also wonder if the increase in wildfires due to climate change is also a factor...
 

MNTornadoGuy

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Apparent pyro tornado near Weston, Oregon yesterday.
Edit: Actually, this might have been a regular tornado that just happened to be near a wildfire. I'm not completely sure either way.

There were no major wildfires in Oregon recently, that was a tornado from 2018 that passed near a wildfire in Colorado. It was not related to a pyrocumulonimbus so it is not a pyrotornado.
 

buckeye05

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Yup you're right. I saw something about wildfire damage in the SPC report and put two and two together. I'll get rid of the post.
 

bjdeming

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Speaking of pyrocumulonimbus clouds, there are some incredible photos of this New Mexico fire, but AFAIK, no pyrotornado reports yet. I couldn't find any, anyway, but this seems a likely candidate for spawning one -- or does mountainous terrain inhibit those? (I know it doesn't for tornadoes).

Northern NM is very hilly (lived in ABQ for a couple of years back in the 80s).



 
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bjdeming

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A day late on this anniversary, but still: the nightmare scenario of a natural pyrotornado going through a major city happened in 1923, per that link.

 
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