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North Korean Leader Emphasizes Importance of Strengthening Naval Power

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a naval base construction site at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on September 8, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a naval base construction site at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on September 8, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
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North Korean Leader Emphasizes Importance of Strengthening Naval Power

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a naval base construction site at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on September 8, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a naval base construction site at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on September 8, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored the importance of strengthening naval power as he toured a naval base construction site, state media KCNA reported on Sunday.

"Now that we are soon to possess large surface warships and submarines which cannot be anchored by the existing facilities for mooring warships, the construction of a naval base for running the latest large warships has become a pressing task," Kim was quoted saying.

During the tour, Kim stressed the need to build a naval port capable of operating weapons systems of the warships and revealed military measures to deploy anti-aircraft and coastal-defense systems for defending the port, according to the report.

Kim cited geopolitical advantages of the site for the country, bordered by the sea on both the east and west sides. The location of the site was not specified in the report.

A recent satellite imagery analysis by 38 North indicated that North Korea's newest ballistic missile class submarine (SSB), the "Sinpo-C" class, was undergoing an extensive fitting-out period at the Sinpo South Shipyard.

In a separate visit to a shipyard, Kim ordered to increase national investments in shipbuilding projects so that immediate tasks and long-term plans for laying the foundation for the development of the shipbuilding industry are pushed forward as scheduled.

KCNA also reported on Sunday Kim's visit to a defense industrial enterprise, where he stressed the need to make munitions production more scientific and modernized to guarantee the performance of newly-developed military hardware, and an inspection of an artillery academy.

Separately, North Korea condemned a recent consultation meeting and simulation drill on extended deterrence conducted by the United States and South Korea, according to a Sunday statement carried by KCNA.

The foreign ministry described the activities as "reckless moves of the hostile forces disturbing the regional strategic stability and increasing the possibility of a nuclear clash".

"The DPRK will continue to take practical measures to cope with the long-term nuclear confrontation with the US," the ministry said, using North Korea's official name.

Meanwhile, North Korea continued its campaign of launching trash balloons towards South Korea for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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Fire Tornadoes are a Risk Under California's Extreme Wildfire Conditions

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
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Fire Tornadoes are a Risk Under California's Extreme Wildfire Conditions

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP

As if they aren’t already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes — a rare but dangerous phenomenon in which wildfires create their own weather.

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” in which any new fire could explode in size. The advisory, which runs into Wednesday, didn’t mention tornadoes, but meteorologist Todd Hall said they're possible given the extreme conditions.

 

A look at fire tornadoes according to The AP.

What is a fire tornado? 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. Some say fire whirls are formed only by heat, while fire tornadoes involve clouds generated by the fire itself.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s glossary of wildland fire terms doesn’t include an entry for fire tornado, but it defines a fire whirl as a “spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris and flame,” and says large whirls “have the intensity of a small tornado.”

Wildfires with turbulent plumes can produce clouds that in turn can produce lightning or a vortex of ash, smoke and flames, said Leila Carvalho, professor of meteorology and climatology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“There is a rotation caused by very strong wind shear and a very hot, localized low-pressure system,” she said.

What is a fire tornado capable of? Fire tornadoes can make fires stronger by sucking up air, Carvalho said. “It creates a tornado track, and wherever this goes, the destruction is like any other tornado.”

In 2018, a fire tornado the size of three football fields killed a firefighter as it exploded in what already was a vast and devastating wildfire near near Redding, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of San Francisco in northern California. Scientists later described an ice-capped cloud that reached 7 miles (11 km) into the air and caused winds up to 143 mph (230 kph).

Research also suggests fire tornadoes can carry airborne embers, also called firebrands, over long distances, said James Urban, an assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They also can change the fire’s behavior, he said.

“That’s also something that is dangerous and scary for first responders, or really anyone,” he said. “It can change and maybe go in a different direction.”

The interaction between wind, the fire plume and topography determines whether a tornado will develop, he said. For example, sometimes a certain topography will restrict airflow in such a way that a spiral pattern develops.

Can you make one in a lab? Together with San José State University, Worcester Polytech is part of a Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. In the lab in Worcester, researchers have created small fire tornadoes by putting up walls around a fire or arranging a bunch of little fires that together restrict airflow. But that’s on a much smaller scale than what’s happening with the wildfires.

“We’ve got the biggest fire lab in the US for a university, but we cannot get something the size of what’s been reported at these fires,” he said. “You can’t really bottle that and put it in a lab.”