World-First Fire Tornado Confirmed by Canberra Researchers

After an extremely complex research on 2003 Canberra bushfires, Rick McRae and his colleagues confirm a tornado has been generated by the raging fire.

The study published in the Natural Hazards journal offers a strong scientific explanation of the phenomenon, ABC reports.

Scientists offer a detailed illustration of a fire tornado's generating factors. They also reveal the difference between a fire whirl and a tornado and depict the fire's behavior in this last case.

“Our analysis indicates that the tornado had a rating of at least a two on the enhanced Fujita scale of tornado severity [scale of 0-5, with five being the worst],” declared McRae. “It had major effects on the behaviour of the fire on the urban edge and had enough force to remove roofs from houses and to blow cars off the road.”

Researchers hope understanding the phenomenon would considerably facilitate emergency authorities' work. As for me, I believe it would undoubtedly be a beautiful beast to behold.