A UK city came to a standstill on Saturday afternoon as a 30 metre-high swirling column of dust tore through the centre.
It could be seen travelling through a street of Manchester city centre, but it was not a tornado.
4
4
It is what is known as a “dust devil”, or willy willy.
Traffic was even brought to a halt before it enveloped a tree by the carriageway, as onlookers were confused by the sight of it.
30-year-old violinist, Adam Riding, said: “I just saw this dust blowing upwards.
“It was this dark cloud and at first I thought it was an explosion but I didn’t really hear any noise.
The dust devil was only seen briefly, and over after about a minute.
“It was the most amazing thing, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Adam added.
“And to witness it in the city on really not a very windy day, it was like this wind tunnel between buildings had created this mini-vortex, It was bizarre.”
From the fifth floor of his apartment, website developer Peter David McHugh witnessed the dust devil from another angle.
He noticed it after it became very dark in his flat: “I was inside and it was quite a sunny day and suddenly I was cast in darkness.
“I looked out and there’s this towering cloud of dust, I jumped up and thought it’s a tornado or something.
“I got my phone and managed to catch the end of it.
“Then it just sort of dissipated.”
The Met Office confirmed to the Manchester Evening News it was not a tornado but a dust devil, after reviewing footage.
A meteorolgist explained: “This phenomenon, most commonly known today as dust devils, is an upward spiralling, dust filled vortex of air that may vary in height from a few feet to over 1,000.
“A dust devil forms due to irregularities caused by temperature contrasts on different surfaces around which then causes rotation of the air and, when there’s dust and debris, you can get these columns of air.”
However, tornados require a thunder storm and often come with heavy rain, therefore making this sunny day and limited cloud unlikely to cause a tornado.
As the Met said: “They mainly occur in desert and semi-arid areas, where the ground is dry and high surface temperatures produce strong updrafts.”
Dust devils, on the other hand, are much smaller at a few metres in diameter but tornadoes can reach around half-a-mile wide.
4
4