A spiraling dust devil touched down in McCarren Park, causing picnickers to... barely flinch. (They've been picnicking next to dust devils since back in 2006. *Shrug.*) Not everyone was indifferent to the strange phenomenon, however, as the bro filming the video hollers a hearty "Holy Shit!" Here's his little opus, titled "Dirtbag hipster twister Stuns Brooklyn":
As uploader Michael Gambale notes, this was not a miniature tornado—"The spiraling, orange tunnel-like phenomenon appears to be a textbook specimen of a 'dust devil,' which according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration definition, is a 'small, rapidly rotating wind that is made visible by the dust, dirt or debris it picks up.' According to NASA, 'a dust devil typically forms on a clear day when the ground is heated by the sun, warming the air just above the ground. As heated air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler air above it, the air may begin to rotate, if conditions are just right.'"
Gambale told Mother Jones that it lasted about one minute, and during that time, "some dude ran into it... he just got all dusty. It wasn't that strong obviously." Unbelievably, this brave act of virality was not caught on tape.
UPDATE: That's the stuff...
