Dust devil
That said, lookie, lookie what bf and I caught on our brief lunchtime excursion!!!!
A dust devil resembles a tornado in that it is a vertical swirling column of air. However, they form under clear skies and are rarely as strong as even the weakest tornadoes. They form when a strong convective updraft is formed near the ground on a hot day. If there is enough low level wind shear, the column of hot, rising air can develop a small cyclonic motion that can be seen near the ground. They are not considered tornadoes because they form during fair weather and are not associated with any actual cloud. However, they can, on occasion, result in major damage, especially in arid areas. A dust devil, ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall) to large (over 10 meters wide and over 1000 meters tall), are usually harmless, but rare ones can grow large enough to threaten both people and property. They are comparable to tornadoes in that both are an unusual weather phenomenon of swirling air vortices. Tornadoes form as an updraft attached to a wall cloud at the back of a thunderstorm. Dust devils form as an updraft under sunny conditions during fair weather, rarely coming close to the intensity of a tornado.
~source Wikipedia
At times this thing had a base about 20-30 ft wide (not in this pic, but while it crossed the road, it spanned about 3/4 of the 5 lane road). It crossed the road directly behind us (which is good because we were in the jeep with the top down), carrying with it lots of debris and showing strong rotation. The cars passing-by sort of interfered with the rotation, so it slowed down a bit, but it quickly regenerated on the other side, so I was able to get some video footage, which I am loading now. Pardon any bad language....Oh, btw, I fixed the video, thanks to hurricaneheardy111 and Alabama Mike's advice.
Of course, in typical Dew fashion, the police officer with his lights blazing pulled over to see why we were parked in the middle of the road... lol.
Here is another shot from our excursion... seriously, life is in the detours (another photo on the Picture This blog).
Have a GREAT day!
~Dewdrop
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Dust Devil!!!!
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Wow! I just know the Lord wanted you to see that!
ReplyDeleteCan you believe that?! It was such an awesome rush! At one time it looked to be about 100 feet tall. Complete awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteCore punch!!! Been a while since i have seen one that big. That is an awesome video capture. The laughter in the background cracks me up. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking that was a total GOD thing! I am so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteRick, It was an incredible rush! I really was thrilled. Very cool capture. I just wish I hadn't had my camera sideways... duh.
ReplyDeleteMike, God definitely graced me with that catch. What an awesome experience!
Awesome pics! The video is nice as well... Its just that I have to tilt my neck to watch it but it's a great capture! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ice. Sorry about you having to tilt your neck. I wish I knew how to fix that. More than that, I wish I had had the presence of mind to not turn my camera on it's side to capture the video.
ReplyDeleteAwe inspiring that is what it is!
ReplyDeleteJJ, It definitely blew me away!! It was amazing!
ReplyDeleteOw..my neck! ;) In Arizona I would often see dust devils. I wasn't afraid of them like you were. ;)
ReplyDeleteAfraid of them... lol. I couldn't imagine what it would have done to us in the topless jeep, and on top of that, I was wearing a dress. Could have been quite a show. lol
ReplyDeleteAwesome catch Dew!! That would hold it's own with some of our W TX dustdevils. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, Steve! Thanks! It was definitely a rarity in these parts. Pretty awesome!
ReplyDelete