(London) Researchers at Western University say they have confirmed that a fire-caused tornado occurred in British Columbia this summer after a video of the “rarely observed” event went viral in August.
Posted at 7:16 p.m.
In a blog post, researchers with the Northern Tornadoes Project at the University of London, Ont., say they have launched a thorough investigation after the release of a video showing an “intense vortex” over Gun Lake in southwestern British Columbia while “raging nightly wildfire.”
They say the investigation was very careful as this is the first case of a fire-caused tornado recorded by the Northern Tornadoes Project research team.
The post states that the investigation required the assistance of witnesses who were able to determine the time and location of the fire tornado on the north shore of Gun Lake around 4:45 a.m. on the morning of August 18th.
Researchers say the terminology surrounding the phenomenon is “still evolving” but said the Gun Lake event was a “true tornado” and not a short-lived so-called “fire cyclone.”
The Northern Tornadoes Project says the “pyro-tornado” is the first documented as part of the project, which launched in 2017, and may be the “most carefully documented” example in Canada to date.