Abstract
YESTERDAY morning, at 9.30, I was fortunate in witnessing a stationary dust-whirl, about a hundred yards from where I stood, on a dust-covered highway lying due east and west. The morning was warm, 67°˙5 in the shade, barometer at 30˙06, and the sky clear, excepting a few isolated cumulus patches. The air was still, the wind-vane indicating north-west. The appearance of the whirl presented a resemblance to a fountain of water playing, only the base was broader than the upper part, which was perfectly columnar. It remained, for nearly five minutes, absolutely stationary, then suddenly ceased, recommencing for a few seconds, on a much smaller scale, some ten yards westwards. Its height, when at its best, would be about 25 feet, and its diameter, midway, 2 feet. I could not correctly ascertain the spiral motions of the whirl, but judged the outer spiral to move from right to left, and upwards. The wind jumped round into the north-east shortly afterwards, with clear sky, and the barometer steadily rising. No others were seen during the day.
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LOVEL, J. Stationary Dust-Whirl. Nature 40, 174 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040174c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040174c0
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