Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
SALIX, Iowa — There are tornados, dust devils and sharknados — fast-spinning phenomena that twist above ground wreaking havoc.
It was another spinning force, though — a firenado — that prompted shock and awe in a northwest Iowa field earlier this month.
"Watch as the flames gather at the base, feeding the beast," intones the narrator of a Weather Channel report of the occurrence, caused by intense wildfires that generate wind.
The video, taken using a drone by freelance photographer and videographer Dan Gottschalk, shows a line of fire stretching across the horizon, and the firenado, a column of bright orange fire, towering above it. Ultimately, the tower of fire turns into a twirl of black smoke and dissipates as the fire below blazes on. Gottschalk, who used Free Bird, the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, as the soundtrack to the X post of his video, doesn't say much by way of explanation.
"Getting up close and personal with a Firenado outside of Salix, Iowa," reads his April 17 post.
Fox Weather, citing the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, said firenadoes "can be as strong as a small tornado." The fire whirls contain hot air and gases rising up from a fire.
It isn't immediately clearn when the weather event occurred. The Weather Channel said the blaze resulted in the temporary closure of an interstate, and using that bit of information plus the location — near the small town of Salix, Iowa — seems to time it to April 12. A report that day from KTIV, a Sioux City, Iowa, television station, noted that a grassfire in a cornfield near Salix resulted in the temporary closure of Interstate 29 due to low visibility caused by blowing smoke.
"According to the Salix Fire Department, there were a few accidents caused by the low visibility, and a couple of people were transported to the hospital. Their conditions remain unknown at this time," KTIV reported. "The grassfire was extinguished around 2:39 p.m. and remains under investigation."
Even if some of the details surrounding the fire are hazy, it led to a spectacular bit of video.
Sharknadoes, by the way, aren't real. The fictional phenomenon — when sharks are thrust into the sky by hurricanes — is the premise of the 2013 movie Sharknado.
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