Hold on to your hats: Giant dust devil sweeps across Arkansas farm
Agricultural consultant Matt Conatser was on-site at a Jonesboro farm this week when he says he spotted "one of the largest dust devils I've ever seen."
Giant dust devil sweeps across Arkansas farm
Video by Matt Conatser shows the towering dust devil quickly move across the dirt picking up debris.
Vanishing just as quickly as it appeared, an agricultural consultant recorded a dust devil towering above an Arkansas farm as it kicked up debris.
Matt Conatser said he was on-site at a Jonesboro farm this week when he spotted "one of the largest dust devils I've ever seen."
Conatser's video shows the spinning dust devil coming closer and picking up debris from the ground. The vortex was likely hundreds of feet tall based on the scale of a nearby farm vehicle seen in the video.
At one point, another person looks like they are running toward the dust devil before they think better of it.
"Look at this crazy guy," Conatser said before the man can be seen running away from the swirling vortex.
A dust devil in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Oct. 10, 2022. (Image Credit: Matt Conatser/WEATHER TRAKER /TMX)
Unlike tornadoes, dust devils form in fair weather on sunny and warm days with somewhat calm winds.
Intense heating along the ground causes a vast difference in temperature within a few hundred feet off the ground, causing the heated air to shoot upward with light surface winds providing some spin.
Called a dust devil because of the dirt that gets picked up, typically from fields, dust devils are a common occurrence in the Southwest.
The weather usually lasts only a few minutes and rarely causes damage, but strong dust devils can toss around patio furniture like this one in Las Vegas.
Dust devils can even form on other planets.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to capture these dust devils swirling across Jezero Crater on July 20, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)
NASA's Perseverance Rover has been recording dust storms and dust devils in the Martian Jezero Crater.