We're not in Kansas anymore....
There’s no denying that we’re in some dry old times, and with these dry times comes dust. And with dust comes Dust Devils, Willy Willy’s or Whirly Winds - whichever way you’ll take your whirly twirly cylinder of dust and debris.
A drive along some of our North West region’s plains lately will have you run into more than a few of these fellows.
It’s all in a name
Whilst many Aussies will have it that a “dust devil” is another Americanised term, it is the internationally recognised term (in a meteorological sense) for the little twisters. However many of us know them as Whirly Winds or as a Willy Willy.
The name Willy Willy is a distinctive Australian Aboriginal name for the winds, coming from western Australian or south-east Australian nation dialects.
Out of a clear blue sky
Unlike Tornadoes, Willy Willy’s are grown from the ground UP (tornadoes form from the sky DOWN) and are self limited by the time that is taken for cool air to be sucked down the vortex, hit the ground surface and cut off the Willy Willy at the source.
They form best on warm days with clear skies and are much more likely to occur on the plains where the ground is flat. Warm ground surfaces create the vortex, dragging dirt and debris upwards with it - some of them reaching hundreds of metres high on a good day.
As early as the 1970s, Willy Willy’s have even been spotted occurring on the surface of Mars.
It is also said that the friction of the dust in a Willy Willy can produce radio noise and electrical fields greater than 10,000 volts per metre.
Spiritual links
Interestingly, indigenous cultures across many continents identify Willy Willy’s as spirits.
In America, the Navajo people believe that if a Willy Willy spins clockwise then it is a good spirit, if it spins counter clockwise then it is a bad spirit.
Small but feisty
When large enough, the Willy Willy can leave damage to buildings and people in it’s wake. In fact several “Jumping Castle” accidents have been attributed to Willy Willy’s picking up the inflatable structures (with children in them) and throwing them several metres.
And don’t get one of our close friends started on the fact that a Willy Willy stole her favourite fitted sheet from the clothesline and took it several kilometres away into the bush, never to be seen again.
Whatever name you prefer, there is no doubt that these winds are a common part of our Australian landscape and have caused most of us an anxious moment or two - even if it was just putting dust in your cup of tea.
Photo credit: Totajila
by Michael Guest in Latest News
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