Intensity and Duration
On Earth, most dust devils are very small and weak, often less than 3 feet (0.9 m) in diameter with maximum winds averaging about 45 miles per hour (70 km/h), and they often dissipate less than a minute after forming. On rare occasions, a dust devil can grow very large and intense, sometimes reaching a diameter of up to 300 feet (90 m) with winds in excess of 60 mph (100 km/h) and can last for upwards of 20 minutes before dissipating.
Dust devils typically do not cause injuries, but rare, severe dust devils have caused damage and even deaths in the past. One such dust devil struck the Coconino County Fairgrounds in Flagstaff, Arizona, on September 14, 2000. Extensive damage occurred to several temporary tents, stands and booths, as well as some permanent fairgrounds structures. In addition, several injuries were reported, but there were no fatalities. Based on the degree of damage left behind, it is estimated that the dust devil produced winds as high as 75 mph (120 km/h), which is equivalent to an EF0 tornado. On May 19, 2003, a dust devil lifted the roof off a two-storey building in Lebanon, Maine, causing it to collapse and kill a man inside. On June 18, 2008, a dust devil collapsed a shed near Casper, Wyoming, killing a woman. In 2010, three children in an inflatable jump house were picked up by a dust devil and were carried over 10-feet (3 m) high, over a fence and landed in a backyard three houses away, in east El Paso, Texas. Dust devils have been implicated in around 100 aircraft accidents some of which were simple taxiing problems, but a few were fatal in-flight incidents.
Read more about this topic: Dust Devil
Famous quotes containing the words intensity and/or duration:
“Many women are surprised by the intensity of their maternal pull and the conflict it brings to their competing roles. This is the precise point at which many women feel the stress of the work/family dilemma most keenly. They realize that they may have a price to pay for wanting to be both professionals and mothers. They feel guilty for not being at work, and angry for being manipulated into feeling this guilt. . . . They don’t quite fit at home. They don’t quite fit at work.”
—Deborah J. Swiss (20th century)
“What matters it that man should have a little more knowledge of the universe? If he has it, he gets little higher. Is he not always infinitely removed from the end, and is not the duration of our life equally removed from eternity, even if it lasts ten years longer?”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)