Recently, photographs of an interesting, but at the same time frightening natural phenomenon - a fiery tornado have been posted on the Internet. These unique shots were taken in the USA. A fiery tornado (the photo in the article demonstrates its destructive power) was formed at the moment when the farmer set fire to the grass in his field, and at that moment the wind spun the tornado.
Tornado
Most of the inhabitants of our planet are already calmly referring to ordinary air vortices, despite the enormous destruction that they bring. Tornadoes are already firmly entrenched in everyday life on the American continent, groups of extreme scientists have even formed there, pursuing these natural phenomena for their detailed study. However, a fiery tornado is a rather rare phenomenon, which is much more dangerous than an ordinary vortex. In our article we will consider the causes of its occurrence, discuss what danger it poses, and also recall the historical facts associated with this kind of tornado.
What is a fire vortex?
The fiery tornado (photo is given in the article) is an atmospheric phenomenon formed when combining disparate sources of fire. As a result, the air in it rapidly heats up, and its density decreases, as a result, it rises up. Its place is occupied by cold flows from peripheral areas. Arriving air also heats up and rises. The effect of oxygen leakage occurs, and fairly stable centripetal flows are formed, which are screwed in a spiral from the earth to the sky. This can be compared to the chimney effect , where the pressure of hot air reaches a hurricane speed. The height of the firestorm can be five thousand meters. The temperature rises to a thousand degrees Celsius. Such a whirlwind draws in everything that is nearby, and continues until it burns out everything that can burn, after which it subsides.
The most dangerous tornado is fiery
A fire storm was the satellite of the most powerful fires in the history of our planet. So, in 1666, this natural phenomenon was recorded during the Great Fire of London. Later, after one and a half hundred years, in 1812, a fiery tornado swept over Moscow when the retreating Russian troops set fire to it. The next time a “red tornado” was recorded during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, and in 1917 in Thessaloniki, Greece.
This terrible phenomenon of nature has become a satellite of modern wars. So, quite often it arose during the Second World War. For example, a burning tornado did things in Stalingrad in 1942. However, the largest destruction is characterized by the "red whirlwind" that swept through the Japanese city of Kobe after its bombing in 1945 by the US Army. Then, as a result of two-day air strikes, more than 40 square kilometers of the city’s area were destroyed, and more than one hundred thousand people died in the resulting hellish tornado.
Creepy chronicle
From fires suffered in London (in 1666, the great London fire), Moscow (1812, Moscow fire), Chicago (1871, the Great Chicago Fire), Thessaloniki (1917-th fire in Thessaloniki). The fiery tornado resulting from the bombing raced over the cities: Stalingrad (August 23, 1942), Wuppertal (May 20-30, 1943), Krefeld (June 21-22, 1943), Hamburg (July 28, 1943), Dresden ( February 13, 1945), Pforzheim (February 24, 1945), Tokyo (March 9, 1945), Hiroshima (August 6, 1945). No fire whirlwind occurred in Nagasaki.
The Red Tornado in Hamburg
In order to appreciate the full power and horror of this phenomenon, we will get acquainted with the documentary description of the fire tornado in Hamburg (1943). Between July 25 and August 3, the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force carried out a series of "carpet bombing" of the city. The largest number of casualties was recorded on July 28. Then, as a result of the appearance of a fiery tornado, more than 40 thousand people died.
Detailed chronology of the firestorm in Hamburg
The first incendiary bombs fell at one in the morning on Frankenstrasse and Spaldingstrasse. There were fires in the areas of Hammerbrock, Rothenburgsort and Hamm. These foci served as a guide for aviation, and in the next 15 minutes, 2,417 tons of mines, HE and incendiary shells fell on these and neighboring urban areas. As a result of the bombing, all city communications were destroyed, and fire brigades simply proved powerless against so many outbreaks. People were gathered in bomb shelters. Several fiery whirlwinds grew over the city, which screamed through the streets with a terrible howl, accelerated and gained strength. After 45 minutes from the start of the bombing, many small fires combined into two powerful fires. Above them formed one huge fiery tornado. More than 130 kilometers of streets and 16 thousand high-rise buildings were in his crucible. There was a thermal cyclone with a diameter of 3.5 kilometers and a height of five kilometers, all with a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius. A fiery tornado was localized on an area of 10 square kilometers. At three o'clock in the morning in the areas of Wandsbekskoe Highway and the Berlin Gate, a continuous sea of fire formed, the height of which was 30-50 meters. The tornado peaked between 3.00 and 3.30. At this temperature, objects flared up without direct contact with fire. Aluminum and lead products became liquid, and steel products became plastic. They deformed, not withstanding structural loads. Even the bricks melted and burned slowly, transformed under the weight of the buildings and exploded into dust ... The buildings collapsed. People in the bomb shelters simply suffocated as the tornado sucked all the air. At 4.30 the wind began to subside, but the heat was still unbearable. At 6.12 in the zone of the fiery whirlwind burned out everything that could burn. Everything in the neighborhood resembled giant hot coals. In order to start disassembling the debris, I had to wait 10 days, since the high temperature did not allow us to approach the area. These are the consequences of a fiery tornado.
"Red Tornado" over Irkutsk
December 6, 1997 in the village of aircraft manufacturers there was a plane crash. In terms of scale, it, of course, is inferior to Hamburg and others, but it does not become less terrible. The peaceful life of the village was disrupted by the fall of the largest production aircraft in the world - the An-124 Ruslan. 130 tons of aviation fuel flared up instantly, and a flurry of fire fell on the city block. This accident is one of the largest in the 20th century. Using the example of a German city, we can imagine what was happening in this village; Now the address Grazhdanskaya street, house 45 in Irkutsk does not exist, and there is a chapel in that place. Subsequently, the documentary "Fiery Tornado over Irkutsk" was shot. This is a unique chronicle of the rescue operation, which also contains amateur footage, interviews with rescuers, firefighters and eyewitnesses.
Australia Tornado
In September 2012, this unique phenomenon made its adjustments on the working day of the Australian film crew. Literally 300 meters from them, a fiery whirlwind rose to a 30-meter height and raged for about 40 minutes. It happened near the city of Alice Springs, in the central part of the continent. The fireworm in Australia is a rather rare phenomenon, despite the frequent fires that cover its territory during the summer drought. And even in this case, there were no prerequisites for its occurrence: it was completely calm, and the air temperature was only 25 degrees. According to experts, the danger of the phenomenon we are considering is its rarity and unpredictability.