Thursday, May 17, 2012

Extreme Dust Devils

Most people including myself perceive dust devils as harmless little dirt whirls in a field for usually they are. On Wednesday with full sun and winds backing out of the NE at 16 MPH (gusting at times to 23 MPH), dust devils spinning up from just NW of Forsyth were however, surprisingly intense. Terrain was a factor where I was for whirlwinds kept developing along the same path in succession over the crest of a broad sloping incline. They would go on to be remarkably tall as well as long lived. As a result, I was fortunate to document some of the largest, most violent dust devils I have personally ever witnessed. The size and volume of small debris that was being thrown by the strongest ones that were chewing through the dirt could have potentially inflicted minor injury if one were within close enough proximity. The experience was a welcome opportunity for what has been a somewhat quiet and difficult month since last post.







Towards the end of the session and from down the road at a different location, a particularly nasty devil spun up and grazed a house. Unless you cared to risk losing an eye or at the very least eat some dirt, I don't think a direct hit would have been an entirely pleasant experience lol.



1 comment:

Suz said...

wow wht a treat to see this
thanks