Whoa! Man captures big dust devil on video in Tempe

PHOENIX — Pretty much everyone who lives in Arizona is familiar with dust devils: You know, the twisting cylinders of dust that look like small tornadoes?

Most of the time, they spin around for a couple seconds before dispersing into nothingness.

Other times, they form a pretty big swirl of dust along a road in Tempe and someone catches it on camera.

Lamarcus Watson was that person over the weekend and filmed a big dust devil moving along Warner Road near Interstate 10.

He posted a six-minute video to Facebook of the dust devil as it swirled along the road. It’s neat to watch it grow in size as it made its way across a dirt lot.

Thanks to the sunlight, you can also see the interior of the dust devil. That’s where the warmer air from the surface rose to meet cooler air above it.

Basically, when the warm air hits the cool air, the former is stretched vertically, which results in the spinning, upward motion of the dust devil.

Though this dust devil was rather impressive inside, it paled in comparison to some of the largest on record.

One of the biggest hit the Coconino County Fairgrounds in 2000 and caused some damage, while others have actually killed people.

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