Paragliding instructor captures massive dust devil in California

A roaring dust devil gave a SoCal paragliding instructor the scare of a lifetime after the swirling vortex tore through a desert drop zone just moments after she touched down.

Terrifying footage captured by Jessica Laird on Sept. 4 shows the funnel violently whipping up sand and debris near Perris, close to a grassy landing area used for training jumps.

Laird told Storyful she and fellow jumpers immediately noticed the air turning eerily “turbulent” as they made their final descent.

Just “a few moments” after unhooking her gear safely on the ground, she looked up to see the monster dust column ripping across the desert floor.

“I felt thankful that I was on the ground. Big dust devils in the landing area are a major hazard, and I’ve had friends who have been injured or even died from their parachute collapsing in a dust devil,” she said, per KTLA.

According to the National Weather Service, these spinning dust columns are a common wind phenomenon across the globe, formed when intense surface heating creates powerful localized updrafts.

While generally smaller and weaker than actual tornadoes, these vortices typically stretch between 10 and 300 feet in diameter, towering anywhere from 500 to 1,000 feet high with maximum wind speeds topping out around 60 miles per hour.

Despite their brief lifespans, a surprise dust devil can disrupt the landing pattern for paragliders and skydivers.

The rapid changes in air pressure can instantly collapse a canopy, sending gliders plunging straight into the hard desert terrain below.

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