This frighteningly heavy smoke at Toronto's CN Tower was caused by fireworks

Smoke from the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/CTVToronto)

The next time you're going to test out fireworks at the CN Tower, tell Twitter.

On Thursday night, observers saw plumes of smoke that looked to be coming from the observation deck of the Toronto landmark, and quickly turned to Twitter to ask what was happening. It was a fireworks rehearsal for the Pan Am games, and Toronto Fire came out at around 8:12 p.m. to clear the scene, The Toronto Star reports. Toronto Fire said they knew about the rehearsal but had "no idea of the volume of smoke" that would be produced. They also apparently had no idea that it would set off a good old fashioned Twitter frenzy. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.