A friend of mine experienced a very strong dust devil (or something
similar). It was on Wednesday 25th of July at about 2.0pm. It happened
in a field near the A 27 near to The Longman at what used to be
Longman's Nurseries about three miles outside Eastbourne.
The sky was clear blue. Two big plastic tubs were taken right across the
field and rubbish swirled around high in the sky. One green canvas tent
was taken down and the contents of another, which had its end flaps open
were tossed and turned around with two sleeping mats whisked out of the
tent and up into the sky over the field and out of sight. Two heavier
sleeping bags were taken up too but dropped back down again about 25
yards away. They weren't able to recover the mats as they went far away
across the road at the bottom of the field. A play tent was blown up
into the sky and fell about 200 yards down the lane.
Has anyone any idea what might have caused it; the field was of grass,
and it seems strange that such a thing could form over grass. There is a
photograph of paper rubbish which has been blown quite high gently
drifting down. Unfortunately the photos are only of the results not the
devil itself - it was strong enough to deter my friend from rushing to
get her camera.