Rare Fire Tornado in Brazil

From Digital Journal:

San Paulo - A fire tornado has been caught on video near Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the humidity is almost desert-like. This rare phenomenon is caused by brush fires and dry winds. Fire tornadoes form when a warm updraft and wildfire meet. They are usually 30-200 feet tall, 10 ft wide, and last only a few minutes. However, some can be more than 1/2 mile tall and persist for more than 20 minutes. The largest on record occurred in 1923, when a giant fire tornado was ignited by an earthquake in Tokyo which led to the deaths of 38,000 people in 15 minutes. Wild fires have tripled this year in Brazil. Burning trees, an outdated method of razing the forest for crop fields is still being used. Although federal laws have been passed to ban the practice, it is also commonplace for sugarcane fields to be burned prior to harvest to "facilitate harvesting, fertilize fields with ash and remove venomous animals and reptiles".

Watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssn2kmNf0ME

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. Our website is WrightWeather.com. George is also a meteorologist with Cablevision News 12.