Dust devil caught on video during Rhode Island soccer game

Players and spectators at a youth soccer game in Rhode Island spotted a swift-moving dust devil that passed through the field.

The seemingly random swirl appeared on an otherwise clear Sunday in Warwick, R.I., catching attendees by surprise. One spectator caught the sudden spiral on camera and shared the video on Facebook.

“People near it didn’t know how to react, with some running away and others running right into it, and some not reacting at all!” Leanne Walker, who captured the video, told The Boston Globe. “What struck me most was how fast it was moving and how much debris it picked up.”

The dust devil appeared out of nowhere on a nearby baseball diamond during a soccer match at Winslow Park, according to the Globe. It carried plenty of scattered debris — including a piece of sheet metal — through the air, but no one was injured.

Despite resembling miniature tornadoes, dust devils typically appear under clear skies and light winds, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). They range from 10 to 300 feet in diameter with average heights of 500 to 1000 feet.

Dust devils form in areas of strong surface heating where the ground temperature becomes much warmer than the air right above it. This causes a rapidly rising pocket of air to form and spin around, creating a vortex like the one spotted in Warwick, according to the NWS.

Though dust devils typically only last for a few minutes, they can do some damage with enough strength. Some spirals in desert areas like northern Arizona can reach wind speeds of over 60 miles per hour and reach heights of several thousand feet, according to the NWS.

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