A ‘mini tornado’ has been spotted in Wexford on Saturday afternoon as Ireland continues to bask in beautiful weather.
The picture was uploaded to Twitter on Saturday via the page Carlow Weather, run by Alan O'Reilly, and showed a swirl of wind that many would call a mini tornado, however, while looking rather similar to one, they are actually harmless ‘dust devils’.
Ranging in size from between half a metre wide and a few metres tall these mini tornados are the product of updraft under sunny conditions but rarely do they come close to the intensity a tornado does.
READ MORE: Met Éireann pinpoints date for weather change with scorching sun replaced by showers
In a post on Twitter, O'Reilly wrote that a follower had sent him a “photo of a dust devil or fairy wind at Mannions Farm shop New Ross this lunchtime.”
He posted the tweet alongside a picture of the 'dust devil or 'fairy wind' as it is also called.
A 'dust devil' forms when hot air near the ground rises, creating a spinning column that grabs loose dust and debris lifting them up into the air, giving it the distinctive visible shape that a tornado does.
The 'dust devil' then dissipates when the source of heat either eventually diminishes or the wind patterns change making the debris fall.
Although for the most part, they are usually harmless, not often getting large enough to cause a threat to people or buildings.
The mini tornado comes as Ireland is hit with a spate of sunny weather marking the start of summer.
In their latest update, Met Éireann said: "High pressure will dominate our weather for the coming week. It will be warm, dry and generally sunny with temperatures in the high teens or low twenties."
While Sunday will be a little cooler than Saturday with highs of 18 degrees, the good weather is forecast to remain over Ireland next week.
"Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be dry and largely sunny days. Warm with highest temperatures of 17 to 21 or 22 degrees generally," a Met Éireann forecaster said.
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