Researchers link smoke from fires to tornado intensity

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uoi-url020215.php

Public Release: 2-Feb-2015
University of Iowa

Can smoke from fires intensify tornadoes?

"Yes," say University of Iowa researchers, who examined the effects of smoke--resulting from spring agricultural land-clearing fires in Central America--transported across the Gulf of Mexico and encountering tornado conditions already in process in the United States.

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"We show the smoke influence for one tornado outbreak, so in the future we will analyze smoke effects for other outbreaks on the record to see if similar impacts are found and under which conditions they occur," says Saide. "We also plan to work along with model developers and institutions in charge of forecasting to move forward in the implementation, testing and incorporation of these effects on operational weather prediction models."

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