Firenado! No, it's not a Syfy film...

Ok, so massive swirling columns of air are pretty interesting. Water spouts, which are a type of tornado over water, are pretty cool too.

But then, I saw this video:

A fire tornado! It is absolutely amazing, and I just had to know more about this incredible event. So, off to one of my favorite sites to gather information, HowStuffWorks. Got some great info from this site once again!

(National Geographic also has some amazing pictures and more information on the topic.)

Turns out that even though I had never really heard of fire whirls or fire devils before, they are actually pretty common! They just aren't documented very often because of the extreme conditions in which they occur. When there are large disaster fires, wildfires, and even house fires most people don't stick around to watch! It's hot, it's smokey, and just plain dangerous. If you know a firefighter though, ask him or her if they've ever spotted a firenado! 

These fire twisters may look like tornadoes, but aren't! They are actually a type of whirlwind. A whirlwind also looks a lot like a tornado, but isn't one. Alright, let's back up a little.

There are two types of tornadoes: supercell and nonsupercell. A supercell tornado has to come down from a thunderstorm, it has to make contact with the ground and have winds of over 65 miles per hour. The nonsupercell tornadoes are the waterspouts and the landspouts. These come from clouds that aren't thunderstorms yet and may never even develop into storms. They don't last as long and are weaker.  

Whirlwinds are not tornadoes because they don't come down from the sky, instead they come up from the ground! Hot air from the ground rises rapidly and starts spinning. When that happens it can kick up dust, dirt, and debris giving it the look of a small tornado. 

So, a fire tornado is actually a whirlwind that develops because a fire has caused the ground to heat up. The swirling air shapes the flames that become trapped in the core of the swirling air.  

Not a true tornado but still pretty cool!