Tornado Alley (PROG)

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[Canberra 2003] Australia’s Fire Vortex: The Catastrophic Mix Of Bushfire And Tornado

ov 26, 2014

Journeyman Pictures

Catalyst: Fire Tornado - Tracking the spread of the deadly 2003 bushfires in Australia's Capital Territory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHVlWPBDUXE

Maybe the most interesting for you comes in about 6:30, fire
developing on both sides of a lee slope at the same time.

I didn't know tornadoes could save some spots by leaving and returning to the ground.
The video said it was the first fire tornado documented and confirmed, had to be sure

Researchers document world-first fire tornado

By Jessica Nairn
Updated 20 Nov 2012, 10:05am

Sorry, this video has expired

Video: World-first fire tornado confirmed in Canberra (7pm TV News ACT)

Related Story: Bushfire discovery 'will save lives'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-31/breakthrough-bushfire-research/3802916

Related Story: Bushfire victims recall destructive 'fire tornado'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-15/bushfire-victims-recall-destructive-fire-tornado/396472

The world's first confirmed case of a fire tornado has been documented by Canberra researchers, using evidence collected from the devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires.

Researchers have long speculated about the ability of a fire to produce a tornado, but until now they have not been able to scientifically prove it.

The study involved collecting a vast quantity of evidence from the Canberra bushfires and has been published in the scientific journal Natural Hazards.

Lead researcher Rick McRae says the fire tornado formed in the ranges west of Canberra before pushing into the city's suburbs.

"The one that we looked at showed that as it approached the edge of Canberra, its basal diameter was nearly half a kilometre, and the damage indicates that the horizontal wind speeds around it were in excess of 250 kilometres per hour," he said.

"There is also a vertical wind in it at 150kph."

He says tornados are different to the whirls often associated with fires.

"The fire whirl is attached to the hot ground," he said.

"A fire tornado, like a true tornado, is attached to the underside of a thunderstorm."

Mr McRae says the study provides crucial information on fire behaviour.

"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]," he said.

"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.

"It's given us an ability to recreate the behaviour of this thing and for the science community, document what a fire tornado may actually be."

Mr McRae says he hopes the case will help emergency authorities better understand the nature of bushfires

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-19/researchers-document-world-first-fire-tornado/4380252