The 'devil dust 'cloud in Manchester: could there be another in the city?

Passers-by couldn’t believe it when the column of swirling dust - almost 100 ft tall - whirled its way down Great Ancoats street in Manchester on Saturday.

One witness to the phenomenon said he froze and thought the ominous dark cloud was the after-effects of an explosion - but then realised he hadn’t heard any noise.

Others spoke about how the weather rapidly changed from being sunny to dark and cloudy.

Although it made an immediate impact, the dust devil disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

A Met Office meteorologist said it was caused by the sunny weather, explaining; “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.

“They’re much smaller than tornadoes which can be around half-a-mile wide.”

The Met Office described a dust devil, as '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 usually occur in desert and semi-arid areas, where a combination of dry ground and irregular surfaces and high temperatures lead to the rotation of the air.

However, that kind of terrain is not exactly Manchester, so the experts don’t expect a dust devil to return to Manchester any time soon!