A fire whirl, colloquially fire devil or fire tornado, is a phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions (depending on air temperature and currents), acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like effect of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire is the heat and light energy released during a Chemical reaction, in particular a combustion reaction. Temperature is a physical property of a system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold something that is hotter generally has the greater temperature Vorticity is a mathematical concept used in Fluid dynamics. It can be related to the amount of " circulation " or "rotation" (or more strictly the A tornado is a violent rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a Cumulonimbus cloud or in rare cases the base of a Cumulus Fire whirls may be whirlwinds separated from the flames, either within the burn area or outside it, or a vortex of flame, itself. A flame is often defined as the visible (light-emitting part of a Fire. V erification of the O rigins of R otation in T ornadoes Ex periment or VORTEX, is a field project that seeks to understand how a
A fire whirl can make fires more dangerous. An extreme example is the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in Japan which ignited a large city-sized firestorm and produced a gigantic fire whirl that killed 38,000 in fifteen minutes in the Hifukusho-Ato region of Tokyo. The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 1158 on the morning of September 1, 1923. A firestorm is a Conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. [1] Another example is the numerous large fire whirls (some tornadic) that developed after lightning struck an oil storage facility near San Luis Obispo, California on April 7, 1926, several of which produced significant structural damage well away from the fire, killing two. Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of Electricity, which typically occurs during Thunderstorms and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or San Luis Obispo (sænˈluːɪs əˈbɪspoʊ Spanish for St Louis the Bishop) is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Thousands of whirlwinds were produced by the four-day-long firestorm coincident with conditions that produced severe thunderstorms, in which the larger fire whirls carried debris 5 kilometers (3 mi) away. [2]
Most of the largest fire whirls are spawned from wildfires. A wildfire, also known as a wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, Peat fire, They form when a warm updraft and convergence from the wildfire are present. An updraft or downdraft ( air pocket) is the vertical movement of Air as a Weather related phenomenon [3] They are usually 10-50 meters (30-200 ft) tall, a few meters (~10 ft) wide, and last only a few minutes. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit However, some can be more than a kilometer (0. 6 mile) tall, contain winds over 160 km/h (100 mph), and persist for more than 20 minutes. Wind is the flow of Air or other Gases that compose an Atmosphere (including but not limited to the Earth's) [4]
These can also aid the 'spotting' ability of wildfires to propagate and start new fires.
See also
References
- ^ Quintiere, James G. A dust devil is a strong well-formed and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall to large (over 10 meters wide and over A landspout is a slang-term coined by meteorologist Howard B Bluestein in the early 1980s for a kind of Tornado not associated with the Mesocyclone of A pyrocumulus or fire cloud is a dense cumuliform cloud associated with fire or volcanic activity A tornado is a violent rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a Cumulonimbus cloud or in rare cases the base of a Cumulus A steam devil is the term used to describe a Rotating Updraft that involves Steam or Smoke. (1998). Principles of Fire Behavior. Thomson Delmar Learning. ISBN 0827377320.
- ^ Hissong, J. E. (Apr 1926). "WHIRLWINDS AT OIL-TANK FIRE, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF." (abstract). Monthly Weather Review 54 (4): 161–3. Monthly Weather Review is a publication of the American Meteorological Society. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
- ^ Umscheid, Michael E. ; J. P. Monteverdi, J. M. Davies (2006). "Photographs and Analysis of an Unusually Large and Long-lived Firewhirl". Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology 1 (2). The E-Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology is an international electronic, open access, Scientific journal.
- ^ Grazulis, Thomas P. (Jul 1993). Thomas P Grazulis (b 1942 in Massachusetts is a Meteorologist who has written extensively about Tornadoes and is head of the Tornado Project. Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1879362031.
- Church, Christopher R. ; John T. Snow, and Jean Dessens (Jul 1980). "Intense Atmospheric Vortices Associated with a 1000 MW Fire" (abstract). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 61 (7): 682–694. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society is a publication of the American Meteorological Society. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
- Fire Whirl Simulations
External links
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