Fire tornado. Fire tornado! FIRE TORNADO!
Sorry, it’s just really fun to say, “Fire tornado.†Yes, a fire tornado is a real (and rare) natural event, but fortunately the one we’re talking about today was far less destructive. This controlled, man-made twister was part of an elaborate, highly scientific study to determine how awesome a fire tornado looks in super slow-motion.
Put together by, of course, The Slow Mo Guys, this fire tornado was made by setting up twelve box fans in a circle and lighting a kerosene fire in the middle. Before they even get to show us what a fire tornado looks like in slow motion, this is pretty amazing to watch in real time. It’s astounding how perfectly the fans can make the tornado spiral, which they estimated got as high as ten feet.
If that wasn’t cool enough on its own, the slow motion footage is genuinely gorgeous. The fire has a smooth, silk like quality to it. It appears closer to a beautifully draped cloth than anything else. There is a real life to it, the kind that makes you understand everything Donald Sutherland’s arsonist character said in Backdraft.
If you have never watched any of The Slow Mo Guys videos before, I highly recommend heading over there and catching up on all of them. I do not recommend however, going out and buying twelve box fans and doing this yourself, no matter how tempted you might be.
What are some other events you’d like to see in super slow-mo? Let’s get a tornado of ideas in our comments section below.
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Image: YouTube/The Slow Mo Guys
