Now this is what you call fire and fury.
Dramatic video posted to YouTube on Sunday showed a firenado, or a whirling column of fire, shifting just a short distance to the waters of the Colorado River and becoming a waterspout.
Coverage of firenadoes on Globalnews.ca:
The video was taken by a couple who were in Blythe, Calif. at the time.
It showed flames from a wildfire first twirling on land and sending up a massive column of smoke before they shifted to the water as the couple watched from their vehicle.
“The branches from the thing, it’s pulling them up into the air!” a man’s voice exclaimed as the waterspout formed in the video.
“We may have to go.”
A firenado is a natural phenomenon that happens when hot air at the base of a fire rises through a pocket of air that’s cooler and then creates a swirling vortex.
It’s distinct from a fire tornado (pyro-tornadogenesis) — literally a tornado that’s generated by a fire.
READ MORE: Firenado? Unlike a sharknado, it’s a real thing
The first documented fire tornado was confirmed by Australian researchers in 2012.
- With files from Nicole Mortillaro