The giant dust devil first gathered into clouds of dust before it concentrated into a compact spiral of whirling dust and wind. The phenomenon is usually found in arid environments
The giant dust devil first gathered into clouds of dust before it concentrated into a compact spiral of whirling dust and wind. The phenomenon is usually found in arid environments
This is the incredible moment a huge dust devil, more commonly seen in deserts, was caught on camera swirling around an industrial park - in SHROPSHIRE.

Managing director Stuart Jones was walking across his site when the piles of dust suddenly whipped up several feet into the air in front of him.

He managed to get his phone out and film the dust swirling around the yard like a mini tornado.

His one-minute video shows the 15ft high dust devil gathering pace as it moves around the site before it eventually fizzles out.

The phenomenon, which is known as a dust devil, is more common in desert or arid landscapes.


But Mr Jones filmed it at his Ridgway Rentals plant in Oswestry, Shrops., last Wednesday (10/5).

He said: 'At first I thought it was a mini-tornado by there was absolutely no wind in the yard at all.

'We have had similar things that might rise up from the ground a few feet then disappear almost immediately but nothing as spectacular as this before.

'You can really hear it blowing and it's certainly something quite amazing to see.

'Luckily all our Plant Rental Machinery is of a huge weight so was totally unaffected by the power of the swirling updraft and nobody came to any harm.'

Dust Devils are similar to tornadoes with both weather phenomenons being a swirling updraft under conditions during fair weather.

They form when hot air near the surface of the earth rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low-pressure air above it.

The column of hot air then begins to rotate if the conditions are right and stretches vertically as the air rapidly rises.

They are known as dust devils because in many countries around the world they were thought to be bad spirits.

Aborigines would warn their children a spirit will emerge from the cloud of hot air if they misbehave.

The Navajo Indians in North America also say a good spirit will spin clockwise and a bad spirit anti-clockwise.

Across the Middle East they are known as djin, genies or devils and they are even known to rise up on the surface of Mars.

In Texas in 2010, three children in an inflatable bouncy castle were picked up by a dust devil and lifted over 10 feet travelling over a fence and landing in a backyard three houses away.