iN VIDEO: Dust devil spotted in Lake Country park

Lucy and Asher Bell were excited to see a dust devil swirling around a popular Lake Country park this afternoon and their mother managed to capture the whole thing on video.

“It’s like a tornado,” Lucy said in the video recorded today, July 23. The video shows the large dust cloud swirling around a parking lot at Jack Seaton Park.

Mom Rebecca Bell said the the video was taken at around 2:15 p.m., and added she has never seen something like this in Lake Country before.

It's not a tornado, but a regular-sized dust devil, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist.

They’re common from April through May and are formed on really hot days when the ground heats up.

“The ground gets so hot that air decides to lift and any little bit of wind can work itself into a swirl. It’ll whip up and then kind of feeds on itself so it’s just a really strong heating and then an updraft from the strong heating,” Lundquist said.

Sometimes dust devils can cause minor damage as they can knock over garbage cans or lawn furniture, but typically don’t hurt anyone, he said.

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