Is this a dust devil? Took this picture last week at 11,000+ feet....

[aphex]

Finally dumped the images from my new digicam, they still need adjustments as i'm still learning what i'm doing..

Anyway, this was taken at a little over 11,000 feet at the top of Izaru Volcano in Costa Rica... The winds would pick up really quickly every 2-3 minutes and these little twisters would spin up the volcanic ash all around us....

http://www.aphexii.com/pics/twister.jpg

Are these what people refer to as dust devils? In the 30+ minutes we were up there, we probably had 15 or so go right over or around us... Freaking painful for your eyes...

 

[Joemonkey]

i would say dust devil, but what do i know

 

[Viper GTS]

Yup, though most don't have enough material to play with (and aren't nearly so visible).

Viper GTS

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I thought a dirt devil was a vaccuum

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

If it looked like this, yes

 

[The Stigenator]

i once took some pics of these twisters near bakersfield. I dont know where i kept them. It was from last year, it was in the dry fields, that were being raked for the next season.. awesome sight, brownish yellow against a blue sky.. it was awesome.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I thought a dirt devil was a vaccuum

 

[aphex]

whoops, i meant dust devil

 

[Wallydraigle]

That's an awesome picture :thumbsup:

 

[Kalvin00]

Here is a picture of an almost perfect dust devil I took last year in Nevada...it looked exactly like a real tornado

Edit: The reason there were so many is that mountain...I saw one the same day I took that pic coming down a hill...right towards a sand factory thingy...it went right over several of the piles and threw tons of sand and dirt into the air. It was very cool to watch.

 

[vi edit]

In Northern Arizona between Prescott and Flagstaff I saw a dust devil that was easily 150 yards across.

That's a big freaking dust devil.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: aphex
http://www.aphexii.com/pics/twister.jpg
Are these what people refer to as dust devils? In the 30+ minutes we were up there, we probably had 15 or so go right over or around us... Freaking painful for your eyes...

Sorry, that actually looks like a smoke contrail, from a recently-launched firework. Looks like some char marks on the pavement below, where it was launched, too.

If it were a real start of or small version of a twister, I don't think that so many people would just be standing around, nonchalauntly, waiting/watching it, I would think that they would be running to hide behind something more substantial.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: aphex
http://www.aphexii.com/pics/twister.jpg
Are these what people refer to as dust devils? In the 30+ minutes we were up there, we probably had 15 or so go right over or around us... Freaking painful for your eyes...

Sorry, that actually looks like a smoke contrail, from a recently-launched firework. Looks like some char marks on the pavement below, where it was launched, too.

If it were a real start of or small version of a twister, I don't think that so many people would just be standing around, nonchalauntly, waiting/watching it, I would think that they would be running to hide behind something more substantial.

Sorry to inform you but your 100% wrong.

Here is the same devil a few seconds earlier, right after it spun up;
http://aphexii.com/pics/t0.jpg

Thats not char marks, its volcanic ash being stirred up, which at times, looks black instead of grey. Also, the twisters spun up real fast, that one probably lasted 5 or 6 seconds, eye stinging but not enough to have to run from.

And some others;
http://aphexii.com/pics/t1.jpg
http://aphexii.com/pics/t2.jpg
http://aphexii.com/pics/t3.jpg

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: aphex
http://www.aphexii.com/pics/twister.jpg
Are these what people refer to as dust devils? In the 30+ minutes we were up there, we probably had 15 or so go right over or around us... Freaking painful for your eyes...

Sorry, that actually looks like a smoke contrail, from a recently-launched firework. Looks like some char marks on the pavement below, where it was launched, too.

If it were a real start of or small version of a twister, I don't think that so many people would just be standing around, nonchalauntly, waiting/watching it, I would think that they would be running to hide behind something more substantial.

LMAO..

Someone's never seen a dust devil before.

 

[Nightfall]

Well, I have never seen a Dust Devil either. First time for me too. Maybe it is because I live in MI and haven't been out west before. Furthest I have been out that direction would be Texas. 🙂

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

That's so cool.

I lived in CR for three years and never went to Irazu.

You live there?

 

[imported_hscorpio]

I see those almost everytime I drive to vegas.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Eli
Someone's never seen a dust devil before.

No, actually, I haven't. I thought that aphex was trying to pull a funny on the ATOT crowd. Guess not... that's wild. I've seen "vortexes" form, around entrances/corners to brick buildings, when I was younger, but they were never visibly-defined like that, they just made the trash on the ground swirl around in a circle for a little while.

So I take it, that a "dust devil", is not simply a smaller version of, or a precursor to, a sort of tornado? IOW, it doesn't require "running for the hills" if you ever see one?

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: OfficeLinebacker
That's so cool.

I lived in CR for three years and never went to Irazu.

You live there?

No, i was down visiting family for the past week...