'Snow devil' spotted swirling along frozen field in Wisconsin
On a hot, summer day you might spy a dust devil swirling in a field, but a more wintry counterpart was spotted in Wisconsin last month.
Rare 'snownado' captured in Wisconsin
Video shows a rare ‘snownado’ picking up snow in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. (Video courtesy: Troy Nelson / Storyful)
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. -- On a hot, summer day you might spy a dust devil swirling in a field, but have you ever seen the frozen counterpart in winter?
Troy Nelson was driving along a county road north of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin on Feb. 25 when he spotted snow being blown into a whirling column.
"I was driving home on that day when I came upon the snow devil going across a field," Nelson told Storyful. "I had never seen this before. I decided to get it on video. I was surprised on how long it lasted."
These wind devils, be it swirling dust or snow, are caused when there is a large difference in temperatures within a few hundred feet of the ground. The -- in this case, "relatively" -- warmer air quickly rises while light winds along the surface blow across the rising air column, giving it some spin.