What is a firenado?

When it comes to natural weather phenomena there are few sights as awe-inspiring as tornadoes. Except, maybe, a firenado.

Firenados, also called fire devils and fire whirls, typically consist of a burning core and a pocket of hot air spinning. While they have a similar name actual tornadoes form based on conditions in the atmosphere while these smaller whirls manifest based on conditions closer to the ground.

As hot, dry air passes over the flames the air begins to spin, and since heat rises the spinning becomes faster and faster generating the visual phenomenon of a fire devil.

These are actually quite common and often occur amid wildfires but you may even spot small firenados in bonfires, like this one that happened at the Burning Man festival over the weekend.