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New York Post
3 days ago
- Climate
- New York Post
Utah ‘firenado' with 122-mph winds leaves behind terrifying path of destruction
A surging wildfire ripping through eastern Utah wilderness over the weekend triggered a rare 'firenado', unleashing a terrifying mix of wind and flames that left one home and several other outbuildings severely damaged. The Deer Creek Fire had already burned several thousand acres just north of La Sal on Saturday when the column of flames and hot gases began spinning, creating the surreal sight of a firenado. Advertisement 'One of our firefighters captured this unusual phenomenon of a fire vortex tearing through pinyon-juniper woodland on the Deer Creek Fire, just outside of La Sal,' said officials with the Utah Bureau of Land Management. The firenado did significant damage as it wreaked havoc on a neighborhood caught in the blaze. The National Weather Service estimated that wind speeds inside the twister reached 122 mph – strong enough to rate an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. What's worse, instead of typical tornadoes that may only spend moments to seconds blasting a neighborhood as the storm blows through, this firenado was nearly stationary, spending 12 minutes swirling its flame-infused fury. 4 On Saturday, July 12, a fire-induced tornado developed within the Deer Creek wildfire near La Sal, Utah. National Weather Service Advertisement 4 The tornado was on the ground for approximately 12 minutes from 1:03-1:15 PM MDT and remained nearly stationary. Dwellings and outbuildings in the area sustained a mix of fire and wind damage. National Weather Service 'Dwellings and outbuildings in the area sustained a mix of fire and wind damage,' said NWS meteorologists in Grand Junction, Colorado, who later surveyed the damage. 'Many of the affected structures burned after the tornado occurred, but wind damage sustained by the remaining structures resulted in the tornado being given an EF-2 rating.' Luckily, residents had already evacuated with the approaching wildfire and no one was injured, NWS officials said. Fire whirls or 'firenados' are spinning columns of hot air and gases rising up from a fire, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. When the air and gases rise, they also carry up smoke, debris, and even fire, as seen in the vortex of fire in the video. Advertisement 4 Dwellings and outbuildings in the area sustained a mix of fire and wind damage. National Weather Service 4 Many of the affected structures burned after the tornado occurred, but wind damage sustained by the remaining structures resulted in the tornado being given an EF-2 rating. National Weather Service The vortices can be as small as under one foot wide to over 500 feet wide, the NWCG said. Fire whirls on the larger side can be as strong as a tornado, as evidenced on Saturday. One of the largest and most destructive fire whirls occurred in 2018 during the Carr Fire in Redding, California, the National Weather Service said. It had wind speeds of about 143 mph, equivalent to those found in EF-3 tornadoes. Advertisement Tornadoes in any form, be it thunderstorm or wildfire-driven, are rare in Utah. The firenado was only the second twister to be given an EF-2 rating in Utah since the Enhanced Fujita scale was implemented in 2007. Prior to that, only nine other tornadoes had been rated at least an F2 on the original Fujita Scale since 1950. Meanwhile, firefighters are still battling the Deer Creek Fire, which had burned more than 15,600 acres as of Thursday morning's update. The blaze is about 7% contained. It's one of eight large wildfires burning in Utah that have scorched over 60,000 acres so far this summer.
Global News
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Global News
‘Pay attention': Why Southern Ontario is the tornado hotspot of Canada
Summer in Ontario may bring with it warm weather, but last week's Lucan tornado is a reminder that it's also tornado season. Since the start of the year, two tornadoes have touched down in Ontario, one in Lucan on June 30 and the second less than an hour away in Woodstock on May 16. Dave Sills, director of the Northern Tornado Project at the University of Western Ontario, says Ontario is the leading province for tornadoes per year. 'It's these summer months — June, July, August — that's the peak for tornado activity right across Canada, but certainly in southern Ontario, this is the time where you really have to pay attention because tornadoes can happen with all of these storms that we get in this area,' Sills said. The Northern Tornado Project has been operating since 2017, tracking and assessing tornadoes across Canada. Story continues below advertisement There were no injuries reported in the recent Lucan tornado, according to the NTP, which rated the twister as an EF0 tornado with wind speeds reaching as high as 110 kilometres per hour. View image in full screen Lucan, Ont. tornado on June 30, 2025. Photo by Dr. David Sills/Northern Tornadoes Project, Lucan is a small village located about a 30-minute drive north of London and is part of the larger Lucan-Biddulph township. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy This is the second tornado of the year in Ontario, with the first occurring just down the road near Woodstock on May 16. Both are located in what is considered a tornado hot spot, in the southern part of the province. Tornadoes are rated using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which ranges from EF0 to EF5, with EF5 being the most intense. In Canada, the aim is to give people at least a 10-minute warning before a tornado hits so they can seek shelter in time. Story continues below advertisement Every year, the NTP rates Canada's warning preparedness with a report card. Its most recent report card for 2023 to 2024 gave an overall rating of 60.7 per cent. While the goal for the organization is for Canada to be at 100 per cent, Sills said this is a noticeable increase from years past, with 2019 to 2021 scoring a failing grade of 37.5 per cent. The most recent report card from the organization found that in 80 per cent of cases, it was able to issue tornado watches at least six hours before, and tornado warnings were issued 10 minutes before one struck 60 per cent of the time. How alerts work Tornado warnings are issued by Environment Canada through the Alert Ready system, which pushes notifications to all cellphones in the area and has the ability to take over radio and TV signals. Story continues below advertisement 'There were still some people in the Lucan event that said they'd never got a warning on their phone. It still seems to be somewhat dependent on the network they're on and the kind of phone they have and these kinds of things,' Sills said. 'Obviously there's still some kinks in the system that need to be ironed out, but this has come so far from 10 to 20 years ago.' Sills says while radar is used to track when a tornado can occur, Environment Canada also needs people to report a tornado when they see it forming in order to alert the wider community. Pointing to the Lucan tornado, Sills said it turned out a lot of people saw the storm, took pictures and video, but did not report to Environment Canada. 'Unless people contact Environment Canada about what they're seeing, as they're seeing it, they really have a hard time reacting quickly to a tornado kind of situation,' he said. People can report a tornado by calling Environment Canada, emailing ONstorm@ or using the #ONstorm on X. Regardless, Sills warns people who see a tornado or receive an alert to act fast. 'If a tornado warning is issued, that means that a tornado was either occurring or Doppler radar is showing that it's imminent, so that means you should get to shelter as soon as possible,' Sills said. Story continues below advertisement To stay safe from a tornado, it's recommended people stay away from windows and doors to avoid debris flying through the air and when possible, seek shelter in a basement. 'A lot of times we get people sending us videos of them using their cellphone camera to record a tornado coming straight at them with debris in the air, so this is not recommended,' Sills warns. 'Take it seriously.' — with files from Global News' Kevin Nielsen
Boston Globe
10-06-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
The most destructive tornado in New England history struck Worcester 70 years ago. Here's what happened.
The violent tornado was on the ground for 84 minutes and grew to over a mile wide, claiming 94 lives. Thousands of buildings were destroyed. Back then, F4 tornadoes were estimated to have maximum wind speeds between 207 and 260 mph. (Since 2007, when the Enhanced Fujita scale came out, both wind speed and destruction are considered when rating a tornado. There's a good chance that the Worcester tornado would have been rated an EF-5 based on the updated system.) There has only been one tornado since that has claimed more lives: the Joplin, Missouri twister of 2011, which killed more than 100 people. Weather setup Advertisement The Worcester tornado was one of four to strike the region that afternoon, spawning from a strong area of low pressure with a powerful cold front interacting with excessive humidity. According to reports from that day, dew points were well into the 70s, priming the atmosphere for explosive storms. When you forecast the possibility of tornadoes, you need four main ingredients — wind shear, lift, instability, and moisture. Wind shear is the change in wind speed and direction with height in the atmosphere. Lift refers to a mechanism to drive moist, warm air upwards in the atmosphere. Instability and moisture are more obvious, but the more humid it is, the more unstable the atmosphere becomes. All four ingredients were present across New England that day. Advertisement It was also the first-ever tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service (known as the U.S. Weather Bureau back then) in New England, but the warning came only after the twister had touched down — debris was already falling out of the sky at the Blue Hill observatory deck — meaning it was too late for many people to seek shelter. A very strong area of low pressure highlighted the surface weather map of New England on June 9, 1953. NWS Path of destruction The monster tornado began its path of destruction over the Quabbin Reservoir near Petersham around 4:30 p.m., tracking to the southeast and crashing into the towns of Barre and Rutland. By the time the clock struck 5 p.m., the tornado had strengthened significantly in Holden, leveling whole neighborhoods. The path of the 1953 Worcester tornado. TornadoTalk The tornado reached maximum strength and severity when hitting Worcester, with Assumption College in its crosshairs. The northern side of the campus, made of heavy brick walls, was leveled. Assumption College just after 5 p.m. on June 9, 1953. Assumption University What's interesting here is that the Worcester hills, specifically Burncoat, may have amplified wind speeds at this point in the tornado's life, increasing the damage and possibly reaching F5 intensity. Hills can impact a tornado's strength, and increasing elevation could have led to stronger winds. The massive tornado continued into Shrewsbury and Westborough, destroying many homes and businesses until finally fading near the Southborough/Framingham line. Three other tornadoes formed that same day, one in Southeastern Mass., an F3, and two in Southeastern New Hampshire — an F3 and F1. Aftermath To put into context just how powerful this tornado was, debris was found as far away as Eastham on Cape Cod, a signal of just how strong the vortex and updraft were from this storm. Books were found — confirmed to be from Worcester — in Provincetown. Advertisement It took years for the region to recover. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed by the nearly hour-and-a-half tornado, causing the equivalent of $550 million in damage if the event occurred in 2025. June 10, 1953: The worst tornado in New England's history ripped a 25-mile path of death and destruction through six Central Massachusetts communities on June 9, 1953. The tornado which touched down at 4:25 near the town of Petersham continued for 84 minutes ultimately killing 94 people and leaving over 15,000 homeless. This picture from Burncoat Street in Worcester shows the pile of debris left in its wake. The Boston Globe/Boston Globe Assumption College was relocated to Salisbury Street, while Quinsigamond Community College was built in the years after on the land where Assumption once stood. The Worcester tornado bookmarked a multiday severe weather event across the country, spawning epic tornadoes that have now been cemented in the weather history books. The event in early June 1953 spearheaded rapid changes to how the country handled forecasting, including the development of a storm spotter network that dramatically improved the timing of tornado warnings to help people find cover sooner. Ken Mahan can be reached at
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
May Tornado Outbreak Spawned EF4s In Kentucky, Illinois; Over 150 Twisters Confirmed In Midwest, South and East
Another multiday, deadly severe weather outbreak spawned over 150 tornadoes in 22 states, along with damaging thunderstorm winds and hail from the Plains to the Midwest, South and East, including the most active day for severe weather so far in 2025. A total of 156 tornadoes were either sighted by spotters or confirmed by the National Weather Service in this outbreak from May 15 through the morning of May 21. Of those, 39 were categorized as "strong" tornadoes, those that produced at least EF2 damage on the Enhanced Fujita scale from which tornadoes are rated and peak winds are estimated. That total tornado tally is likely to change slightly in the coming days, as damage surveys by National Weather Service meteorologists are still being conducted. In addition to the tornadoes, there were over 2,000 reports of large hail and either damaging or strong thunderstorm wind gusts during the outbreak. Over 700 of those reports were from Friday May 16 into early morning on Saturday May 17, alone. Two of these tornadoes were rated EF4, a threshold the NWS classifies as violent tornadoes. Twisters this strong aren't rare, but they make up a small fraction of America's yearly tornado tally. From zero to six EF4 tornadoes occurred in the U.S. annually from 2015 through 2024. The first violent tornado tracked through southern Illinois' Williamson County on the evening of May 16. Along its almost 17-mile path, one two-story home south of Marion was swept clean off its foundation, with just stubs of trees left behind the home by winds estimated up to 190 mph. Luckily, the residents of the home weren't there at the time. This was the strongest tornado to impact the region served by the National Weather Service's Paducah, Kentucky, office since the Dec. 10, 2021, outbreak. The other violent tornado tore a 60-mile path across Russell, Pulaski and Laurel Counties, Kentucky, in almost 90 minutes late on the night of May 16. Heavy damage was reported in parts of the cities of London and Somerset, with homes "wiped clean from their foundations" in London's Sunshine Hills subdivision, where 17 people were killed, according to the NWS damage survey. Peak winds were estimated at 170 mph. Two others were killed by the tornado in Russell and Pulaski Counties. That made this tornado the deadliest in the area served by the NWS-Jackson, Kentucky, office. There were three other deadly tornadoes on May 16. First, an afternoon EF3 tornado tore through the north side of the St. Louis metro area, killing five and injuring 38. Over 5,000 buildings were damaged in the city. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River and tracked through Granite City and Pontoon Beach, Illinois, before ending its almost 23-mile journey in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville campus. It was the strongest tornado in St. Louis since the April 22, 2011 EF4 that hit Bridgeton and Lambert International Airport. Other deadly tornadoes included an EF3 just north of Sikeston, Missouri (2 killed), and an EF2 in Greene County, Indiana (1 killed), both on May 16. Notable long-track tornadoes included a 35-mile path carved by an EF2 tornado south of Bloomington, Indiana, on May 16 and a 32-mile path in south-central Kansas on May 18. May 15 Among over 30 tornadoes, 15 of those were in Wisconsin, including four rated EF2. Two of those occurred in Dodge County, striking the towns of Juneau and Mayville. Eleven other tornadoes - all rated EF0 or EF1 - touched down in Lower Michigan. May 16 As mentioned earlier, this was the most active 24-hour period for severe weather during this extended siege, including an EF1 tornado that started in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, then crossed Interstates 95 and 895, damaging several warehouses before ending in the Dundalk Historic District. More bizarre that afternoon was a cloud of dirt and dust whipped up by outflow winds from thunderstorms over central Illinois and pushed northeastward into Chicagoland, northwest Indiana and even parts of Lower Michigan. This reduced visibility to zero in some outlying areas of Illinois, forcing some roads to close. According to the National Weather Service, it was believed to be the first dust storm to affect Chicago since May 31, 1985, which was also the day of a prolific tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ontario. The NWS also said it was the strongest Chicago dust storm since the Dust Bowl (May 10, 1934). May 18 NWS-Boulder noted two of the landspout tornadoes east and southeast of Denver were unusually strong, both rated EF2 in northeast Elbert County and northeast of Bennett in far eastern Adams County. The west side of Grinnell, Kansas, was struck by a slow-moving EF3 tornado that tracked only about 8 miles in 30 minutes. Greensburg, Kansas, leveled by an EF5 tornado in May 2007, was fortunate that three EF3 tornadoes on May 18 all remained either south or east of the town. A family of tornadoes spun up from a supercell in far northwest Oklahoma near Arnett. One of those produced at least EF2 damage, and hail up to the size of grapefruits was also reported. May 19-21 Among the roughly 60 tornadoes from May 19 into the early morning of May 21, several of these stood out. An EF1 tornado on May 19 in Dodge Co., Nebraska, downed a tree on a home and sliced it in two, narrowly missing a man. And on May 20, a rare tornado emergency - the highest level of tornado warning from the National Weather Service - was issued before an EF2 tornado slammed into Madison, Alabama, near Huntsville. Another EF2 tornado in eastern Madison County was one of at least seven north Alabama twisters on May 20. Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
5 Violent EF4 Tornadoes Have Now Hit The US In 2025. Is That Unusual?
Five tornadoes rated EF4 have struck the U.S. so far in 2025 after two more were confirmed following the most recent siege of severe weather in mid-May. Tornadoes in the violent category like these makeup less than 1% of twisters this century, so how does this year's number stack up compared to the average? -Defining Violent Tornadoes: While all tornadoes are dangerous, meteorologists reserve "violent" for those with the two highest ratings on the Enhanced-Fujita scale - EF4 or EF5. That's because these strongest tornadoes are capable of devastating damage, such as crushing and throwing vehicles, leveling well-built homes, even sweeping foundations clean. These select few tornadoes are estimated to have peak winds of 166 mph or higher. -This Year's EF4 Tornadoes: Two of them struck northern Arkansas on the night of March 14. The following day, EF4 damage was found from a tornado that tracked from Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, to Covington County, Mississippi. May 16 had two EF4s, one south of Marion, Illinois, and another that devastated parts of Pulaski and Laurel counties in southeast Kentucky. -More Than The 10-Year Average: There have been anywhere from zero to six EF4-rated tornadoes each year from 2015 through 2024, so this year is on the higher end of that range for the past decade. The average over that time is about 3 per year, which is 2 fewer than we've seen in 2025. -Two Outlier Years: Looking farther back in time to when the Enhanced Fujita scale was implemented in early 2007, there have been as been as many as 23 violent tornadoes in 2011 and 13 in 2010. Those two outlier years skew the average higher to about 5 to 6 EF4 tornadoes per year since 2007. -Violent Tornadoes Are Overwhelmingly Deadlier: From 2007 through 2024, this tiny fraction of tornadoes was responsible for more than half of all U.S. tornado deaths. 828 people were killed by EF4 or EF5 tornadoes in that time compared to 649 for all tornadoes rated EF0 to EF3, combined. -Top States: It should come as no surprise where violent tornadoes occur most often. From 1950 through 2024, the conventional Plains "Tornado Alley" states of Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa and Kansas had the largest number of violent tornadoes. Elevated violent tornado counts also extend eastward into the Ohio Valley and a southern corridor that includes Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. -No EF5s In More Than A Decade: The last one to reach this rating hit Moore, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metro area on May 20, 2013. -Why So Long?: A recent study found that may be due as much to the more stringent engineering criteria of the Enhanced Fujita scale compared to the pre-2007 Fujita scale. In essence, it appears a destroyed building had to be built beyond standard construction codes to be rated EF5 today. -An Example This Year: The photo below shows a two-story home built in 2003 that was completely swept away by a tornado that struck south of Marion, Illinois, May 16, 2025. Given nothing is left, it might make you immediately think it should be an EF5. The National Weather Service storm survey stated, "The extreme tree stubbing combined with the typical construction methods of the home support a peak wind speed rating of 190 mph". Since the home had typical construction methods, the damage was just short of what can be rated as an EF5, which contains winds greater than 200 mph. Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with for nearly 15 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s. Senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman contributed to this report.
