LARGE DUST DEVIL CLOSE TO MARSA HORSE RACING TRACK – 24th July 2010

A large dust devil was reported close to the Marsa Horse Racing Track at around 1:10pm local time. It lasted a few minutes and carried lots of dust, paper, bags and broken twigs. At least one water tank lid was also blown away. However, it caused no damage or injuries.

At the time the dust devil occurred, temperatures had just reached their peaks of 35.4°C at Zebbug Malta (37.3°C in Zejtun) and were dropping rapidly by around 6 degrees in 30 minutes with a sudden increase of wind from a northwesterly direction of around 7km/h (gusting 13km/h) to around 33km/h (gusting 57km/h) in just a few minutes.