Strong dust devil

Observation by Jeffrey Luther:

A dust devil was strong enough to lift and flip a small aircraft. Residents living near the aircraft said they heard a loud thud, prompting them to leave their home to photograph the aircraft and record the dust devil. A neighboring resident also came outside after hearing the noise to determine its source. Upon investigating, they discovered that the aircraft had been lifted and overturned by the dust devil. The residents reported that they had never seen a dust devil of such intensity in the area before. They also stated that the vortex nearly flipped a small boat located nearby

LEO Says

Thank you Jeff for providing the community photos and video. This observation highlights how localized weather events can produce significant impacts despite occurring on a small scale. Community reports help everyone better understand changes in weather extremes and help document environmental events that may otherwise go unrecorded. Continued reporting of these occurrences contributes to a better understanding of hazardous weather patterns and their potential impacts on people, property, and infrastructure across Alaska. Rick Thoman provides more insight with dust devils.

Consultation by Rick Thoman

Dust devils are not uncommon in Alaska from May to mid-July due to solar heating warming the air right near the ground much more than air even a short distance above. While Alaska dust devils rarely are strong enough to cause the kind of damage that occurred in this event, there have been several cases documented over the years in the Interior.