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 PaulineM |
Dust devil |
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Established Tree
Posts: 20299 12-05-08 15:43 Retired Auctioneer |
We just had one - very much like the one in the top picture here. OH and I were
quietly sitting on our balcony sipping coffee when I looked up and saw the thing practically on top of us. Just had time to close my eyes through the worst of
it. Result: gritty coffee and a house full of dust!
Interesting, though - never seen one before. 
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Laurel360 |
#1 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 20702 12-05-08 21:29 Established Tree |
Good grief - how exotic! Presumably it doesn't make much noise or you'd have had a bit more notice to get in and shut the doors.
 
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eileen |
#2 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 12349 13-05-08 01:52 Established Tree |
We complain about our Scottish weather but, thankfully, we don't get anything like that here. I guess you're going to be busy with the feather duster
now Pauline.
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PaulineM |
#3 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 20306 13-05-08 08:22 Retired Auctioneer |
I don't recall any noise. I just looked up and straight ahead was a ploughed-field-coloured fog. I could see that it was clear to either side, and that it
was rotating - and then I realised it was rapidly coming towards me and decided that closing the eyes would be a wise move.
Astonishingly localised - about the width of the house, though it's hard to say as it faded out at the edges. I just wish I'd seen it start. I still probably wouldn't have closed the windows, I'd have been too fascinated watching it.
It's easy to imagine that something like that could create a crop circle if there were a crop instead of bare earth underneath it.
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shirleyellenp |
#4 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 8886 14-05-08 22:10 Established Tree |
It looks very much like the water spouts we get on the lake. They stay on the lake though and don't come flying at people's faces on land.
I bet it kind of stung when it hit you. It must be dry in your part of the world Pauline. In the 30's they had terrible sand storms on the prairies in North America because of the droughts. People actually died from them.  
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PaulineM |
#5 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 20317 14-05-08 22:55 Retired Auctioneer |
It didn't sting, but it wasn't rotating that fast - stiff breeze rather than gale force. Maybe it had only just got going.
We get a fair amount of rain here (average 29in/74cm a year), but it tends to come in concentrated bursts with not much in between. I don't water my garden (except for the odd plant I'm trying to establish) but it remains pretty lush. I think it's just that the field had been ploughed and then harrowed, so it was pretty flat, and then we had a succession of hot sunny days. Waterspouts! I'd love to see one of those! 
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MacT1 |
#6 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 13801 15-05-08 01:31 |
Evidently we do get them here on a rare occasion . A local farmer told me he had one once in his ploughed field during a very dry spring . Not sure I would
like to be in the middle of it as he was .
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shirleyellenp |
#7 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 8893 15-05-08 04:11 Established Tree |
I found this Pauline.
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bilnrobn |
#8 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 8434 15-05-08 10:00 Established Tree |
We used to love them when I was gliding.... They are a visual sign of lots of warm air rising very fast. I think a water spout and a dust devil are the same
thing, just depends on where they are. They pick up whatever is under them.
 
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Kitty58 |
#9 | |||
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Established Tree
Posts: 25852 16-05-08 11:45 Auctioneer
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I did wonder if it started in the field you see from the balcony as the article said they begin in large open spaces. What an experience.
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