At the California house, the weather in June typically is mild temperatures with night and morning low clouds and fog. Late spring and summer in our town in Arizona is a completely different story. We have sunny days, warmer temperatures and a weather phenomenon known locally as “dust devils.”
Image: Arizona dust devil
The little twisters have shown up at our new home a few times since the weather has warmed up to highs in the 90’s. We quickly learned that lightweight objects are best stored indoors rather than on the back patio or behind the garage.
Three buckets we had out by the garage got caught up in one of the devils. Two of them got lodged in palo verde just to the east of the lot. We found those right away, filled them with something heavy and put them away. The third bucket was at large for about two weeks until Verna spotted it under a large creosote in the vacant lot to the east several hundred feet from where the twister picked it up.
Our trash bin has been knocked over three times and once was thrown across the driveway at the same time the buckets were taken. Frankly, I don’t know what I can do to the trash bin short of dumping a boulder in the bottom. I’ll think of something.
The devils, though rarely fatal, have done some pretty interesting things, like this:
In 2010, three children in an inflatable jump house were picked up by a dust devil and were carried over three houses and a 10-foot fence, in east El Paso, Texas.
