What is the name of this lightning phenomenon?

[Iceveela]

When reading a 40 year old "Life: nature library" book on earth i discovered a picture of what is labeled a "spiral of flame". it is where lightning ignites chemicals in the sky and has the appearance of a twisted cloth. this is supposed to be extremely rare. but i cannot find any information on it AT ALL, not even on the internet. i provided some links to the actual picture provided in the book.

 

can you tell me the actual name of this phenomenon and if possible, links and references to where it may be found at?

 

http://media-files.gather.com/images/d914/d902/d746/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg

http://media-files.gather.com/images/d915/d902/d746/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg

[Iceveela]

I guess no one knows anything about it?

 

here is another clearer picture of it.

 

http://www.gather.com/viewImage.action?fileId=3096224746909715

[insane_alien]

its either a firewhirl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_whirl

 

or it is as the caption says, lightning striking a fire.

[pwagen]

I actually took an hour or so to look around for this, first time you posted (then I kind of forgot about it, sorry!).

 

At first I thought it was some kind of ball lightning. But then I looked closer, and it doesn't really look like any lightning I've seen before. It actually reminds me more of the old spiritual seance photos from way back.

 

One kind of lightning that comes close is something called ribbon lightning.

 

http://en.wikipedia....ibbon_lightning

 

It's not THAT close in resemblance, and it's probably not caused by the same things, but it might be a place to start.

 

Edit: The alien who posted while I was typing is probably right. The lack of colour in the photo is a problem.

Edited April 25, 2011 by pwagen

[michel123456]

Thanks to IA found this one, no explanation.

 

http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/170026.html

 

But i have seen this before (maybe in the same Life edition?)

 

and here called "fire vortex"

http://www.ultimatechase.com/Press_Releases/December_2006.htm

Edited April 25, 2011 by michel123456

[Luna]

A fire tornado, fire whirl, fire devil, etc is like a tornado but made of fire instead of air. As the heated air from the fire rises, strong air currents cause the air molecules to spin which shapes the flame into a tornado.

 

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/fire-tornado

Edited May 9, 2011 by Luna