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Dust devil caught on camera in western Massachusetts

Dust devil caught on camera in western Massachusetts
ANY PHOTOS WITH IT. CAUGHT ON CAMERA HERE. CHECK THIS OUT. THIS IS WILD. A DUST DEVIL IN ORANGE. A VIEWER CAPTURING THE WHIRLWIND FROM CRIMSON ACRES FARM. CINDY JOINING US NOW. TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT EXACTLY A DUST DEVIL IS. YEAH, IT KIND OF LOOKS LIKE A TORNADO, BUT THEY’RE VERY DIFFERENT. SO YOU GET A TORNADO TO HAPPEN FROM A THUNDERSTORM DURING SEVERE WEATHER. THAT DUST DEVIL, AS YOU SAW, JUST KIND OF APPEARED OUT OF THE BLUE SKY. BUT IT DIDN’T COME FROM THE SKY. IT ACTUALLY CAME FROM THE GROUND UP. AND THEY’RE VERY DIFFERENT IN HOW THESE FORMS. SO WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT A DUST DEVIL, IT’S BASICALLY THE SUN HEATING THE GROUND, AND THAT SENDS THE AIR RISING IN THESE POCKETS OF AIR. AND WHAT THAT HAPPENS, IT CREATES THIS LITTLE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE FROM THE RISING AIR, AND THEN THE AIR FROM AROUND IT KIND OF COMES TO FILL IN, AND IT CREATES THIS CIRCULATION, WHICH CAN BE STRETCHED VERTICALLY. AND THEN YOU HAVE THAT COLUMN OF AIR THAT’S RISING FROM THE GROUND THAT IS KIND OF SUCKING UP SOME OF THE DIRT AND THE DUST ON THE GROUND. AND THAT’S WHY IT APPEARS THE COLOR THAT IT DOES. AND THIS WILL SUSTAIN ITSELF FOR A WHILE UNTIL COOLER AIR KIND OF GETS WRAPPED INTO IT, AND THE WHOLE THING KIND OF FALLS APART. THESE ARE NOT SUPER RARE, BUT THEY’RE NOT COMMON. AND WE DON’T SEE THESE AROUND HERE ALL THAT OFTEN. BUT, YOU KNOW, IT’S BEEN SO DRY LATELY THAT THERE’S A LOT OF KIND OF DUST ON THE GROUND.
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Updated: 2:49 PM CDT Sep 1, 2025
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Dust devil caught on camera in western Massachusetts
WCVB logo
Updated: 2:49 PM CDT Sep 1, 2025
Editorial Standards
A dust devil was caught on camera in Orange, Massachusetts, when a viewer captured the whirlwind from Crimson Acres Farm during the weekend.Sister station WCVB Chief Meteorologist Cindy Fitzgibbon explained that while dust devils can look like tornadoes, they are very different in how they form."A dust devil is basically the sun heating the ground, and that sends the air rising in these pockets of air, and what happens is it creates an area of low pressure from the rising air. The air from around it fills in, and it creates this circulation, which can be stretched vertically. Then you have that column of air rising from the ground that sucks up some of the dirt and the dust on the ground," Fitzgibbon said.The dust devil can sustain itself until cooler air gets wrapped in and it falls apart."These are not super rare, but they are not common, and we don't see these around here all that often," Fitzgibbon said.

A dust devil was caught on camera in Orange, Massachusetts, when a viewer captured the whirlwind from Crimson Acres Farm during the weekend.

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Sister station WCVB Chief Meteorologist Cindy Fitzgibbon explained that while dust devils can look like tornadoes, they are very different in how they form.

"A dust devil is basically the sun heating the ground, and that sends the air rising in these pockets of air, and what happens is it creates an area of low pressure from the rising air. The air from around it fills in, and it creates this circulation, which can be stretched vertically. Then you have that column of air rising from the ground that sucks up some of the dirt and the dust on the ground," Fitzgibbon said.

The dust devil can sustain itself until cooler air gets wrapped in and it falls apart.

"These are not super rare, but they are not common, and we don't see these around here all that often," Fitzgibbon said.