BEWARE!

[Armand]

Indian folklore claims a Dust Devil is the spirit of a warrior that has not left the earth. If you ever get hit by one you'll think they're right. Here in the south west it is now are windy season. Today, winds are blowing 15-25mph with gust to 35-45mph. With riding season upon us, thought I'd post some local weather info for out of state riders to be aware of.

A dust devil is like a mini tornado and they are very powerful and can be fast moving. And it doesn't have to be windy out for one to form. I haven't had the pleasure of being hit by one on my bike yet, but one hit me in my pick up truck and I could feel the truck being pressed downward and it moved me from the left lane into the right one. I didn't see it coming.

If your out this way and you see a column of dirt heading towards the road in front of you, slow down and let it pass by. You'll be doing yourself a favor!

 

[squeezer]

I actually rode through several in the eastern Oregon desert one trip. It was like my bike was a magnet for them. It didn't feel any different than a wind gust -- a little bit of movement but never knocked me out of my lane. Sure looked freaky, though.

Others should note that the ones I rode through were pretty small. Caution is a good idea.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I've chased down the small ones on foot to run through them. Kinda fun actually.

 

[Silverbullet]

These days I prefer to avoid them. A couple years back Jenny and I hit one in South-east Washington that was apparently stronger than I thought it would be. I found myself in the on-coming lane faster than I could do anything about, good thing I had the road to myself. Good call on the heads up.

 

[Amarak]

If any of you want training on how to ride through one of these, just ride I84 or SR14 through the Columbia River Gorge a few times.

 

[supertankerm60a3]

Worst dustdevil I ever rode through was on 10 mile straight at night going from Barstow to FT. Irwin. The first edge hit me almost like a physical thing, had me leaning hard left but only slightly deflected in the lane. The back edge through me across the oncoming lane all the way to the left shoulder because it was working with the lean that I had already had going. Used atleast a weeks worth of luck that night. Had it been daylight, I could have seen it coming and not just thought it was your typical random gust of desert wind.