LOYALTON, Calif. — A tornado warning issued early Saturday afternoon in Lassen County, California, was no average tornado warning.
This warning was for a fire whirl, which is a rapidly rotating column of air that looks and acts like a tornado but is produced by a wildfire. These can be extremely dangerous, though typically stationary during their lifespan.
This particular vortex was produced by a rotating pyrocumulonimbus cloud in the Loyalton Fire in northern California.
As of Saturday evening, the Loyalton Fire had grown to 2000 acres and is not contained.
