AUSTIN (KXAN) — Over the last week, we’ve received several videos and even more messages that dust devils are being spotted across much of Central Texas including the video above from ‘Rancher Mike’ in Bastrop.
Just two days later we had a second impressive video (below) sent to us from Matt Walker, in a different part of Bastrop.
The type of weather conducive to dust devil development looks to continue for at least the next week or more in Central Texas.
How does a dust devil form?
A dust devil, also called a whirlwind, is a narrow column of rotating air that forms on a hot day with light winds. The light winds prevent mixing in the atmosphere and allow ground temperatures to warm much hotter than air just above the ground.
The difference in temperature causes rising motion, but that, alone, may not be enough to cause a dust devil. If you have different surface materials like dust, sand, concrete or asphalt within a short distance from one another, that difference in heating can be just enough to get a small area of low pressure to form that then develops a vortex of rotating air that surges upward towards the relatively cooler air.
Dust devils can still bring damaging wind gusts over 60 mph, but many bring lower intensity winds that don’t cause problems at all.
More dust devils in our future?
Light winds and plenty of heat are the two main weather ingredients needed for dust devils. After a weak cold front moves through Central Texas Wednesday into Thursday, we anticipate we’ll return to those two weather conditions conducive for more dust devils.
Of course, they don’t happen everywhere. Lately, we’ve seen them form in construction sites or near the road where there’s more dust or sand available to make them more obvious.
If you see one and it’s safe to do so, send us some video! Go to our Report-It page and fill out the form and attach your video and we could use it on air.
Of course, you never want to put yourselves in harms way. Even a dust devil can cause minor damage and at the very least can blow dust in your eyes and small debris can go flying.
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