’Dust devil’ sweeps through central Manchester, causing panic among pedestrians
A 30-meter-high column of swirling dust swept along Great Ancoats Street on Saturday afternoon
To everyone except meteorologists, it looked like a tornado was ripping through Manchester city centre as a 30 metre-high swirling column of dust made its way along Great Ancoats Street on Saturday afternoon.
It briefly brought traffic to a standstill and appeared to completely envelope a tree beside the carriageway. Actually, it wasn’t a tornado. It was what is known as a ’dust devil’, which are quite rare, especially in city centres.
"I was going to the gym on Great Ancoats Street where there is some land the council has flattened. I think that laid the foundation for what happened, with all the dust and sand that’s there," said Adam Riding, 30, a violinist.
"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. I froze. I didn’t know what to do and as it got higher and higher I got my phone out and started videoing it. It was probably over within a minute. It all happened really quickly.
"It was the most amazing thing. I’ve never seen anything like that. 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."
Website developer Peter David McHugh was in his fifth floor apartment at Royal Mills, on the other side of the dust devil, when he noticed suddenly it got very dark in his flat.
He said: "I was inside and it was quite a sunny day and suddenly I was cast in darkness. I looked out and there’s 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.
"It was really interesting. I’ve lived here eight years and I’ve never seen that. It was pretty wild."
The Manchester Evening News shared the footage with the Met Office where a meteorologist quickly concluded it was not a tornado but a dust devil.
He said: "It’s a sunny day and very little in the way of cloud. For a tornado you need a thunder storm and almost certainly heavy rain as well. A tornado is effectively a rotating column of air due to a severe thunderstorm.
"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."
(Image: Adam Riding)
Dust devils were also much smaller than tornadoes which can be half-a-mile wide, he said.
The Met Office explains a dust devil, also known as a willy willy, on its website, stating: "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.
"They are usually several metres in diameter at the base, then narrowing for a short distance before expanding again. They mainly occur in desert and semi-arid areas, where the ground is dry and high surface temperatures produce strong updrafts.
"The initial rotation may be caused by irregularities in the surface. Unlike tornadoes, dust devils grow upwards from the ground, rather than down from clouds. In the stronger dust devils, a cumulous cloud can be seen at the top of the rising column of warm air. They only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base of the rising vortex, cooling the ground and cutting off its heat supply."
Editor-in-Chief
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
