As if they aren’t already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes — a rare but ...

It was part of the worst tornado outbreak on record for eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Close to 100 deaths were reported in Omaha, with some 2000 structures destroyed. Image credit ...

Check out this video of what is a “fire whirl” or as many often refer to it, “fire tornado”. This phenomenon actually is not a tornado and occurs during large wildfires when rising hot air combines ...

But Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, told USA TODAY that it instead appears to be an example of a fire whirl, which is “more akin to a dust devil than a tornado” and is less severe.

Fire whirl, fire devil, fire tornado or even firenado – scientists, firefighters and regular folks use multiple terms to describe similar phenomena, and they don’t always agree on what’s what.