Chasing Dust Devil "Tornadoes" In The Black Rock Desert - A Dust Devil Research Project Begins

The adventure begins! This is the first of a video series on this channel all about exploring the science behind dust devils. In this first episode we'll be spending 3 days in the Black Rock Desert in NW Nevada, which consists of 200 square miles of completely flat ground. My plan is to travel to different locations around the country to track down some of the very best dust devils out there. In addition to capturing photos and videos of these fascinating little whirlwinds, my goal is to research and explore the details about how they form. Join me on this adventure!
This project is open for collaboration. If you are a meteorologist, photographer/filmmaker, or researcher interested in contributing, please contact me.

[@carsonscribner2934]

I was chasing dust devils about a week ago and they are so festinating. Seeing one is one thing, but being inside one is so much different. It's so weird ad cool to feel the hot air inside of them. As of typing this tomorrow's forecast looks like a great day for them as well where I live, I might go dust devil chasing.

[@LaramidiaWX]

Entertaining and informative video of your cool adventure! My son and I went dust devil chasing with a friend today on a small dry lake here in Alberta and despite cumulus cloud shadows and moderate wind we still managed to see one. Will definitely try again using your tips.

[@0987654321mnbvcxzmor]

That is amazing

[@MsLisa551]

Love this video!!

[@williadYT]

The huge farming area east of Chelan, WA is all dirt so soft and powdery that you sink into it when walking. This makes excellent dust devils and they are abundent there.

[@icetea622Roadblox]

I am soo obsessed with tornados/dust devils and watching these are soo cool!

[@icetea622Roadblox]

(Except the part where people die though, rip)

[@jordanarmstrong1353]

Very lit

[@user-te1qy5ft5j]

Years ago while on a drive in central Indiana, I noticed a strange white column in the sky. It was very uniform and appeared to be absolutely vertical. It seemed to go thousands of feet into the air. I tried to point it out to my wife and she could not see it. I made a couple turns and tried to get closer to it. When it suddenly disappeared and then reappeared for no apparent reason and when my wife still could not see it, I finally realized that my polarized sunglasses were allowing me to see it. She put her sunglasses on and we watched, together, as the the largest dust devil that I have ever seen passed only a few feet in front of our car. When it became difficult to see it again, I tilted my head from side to side, changing the angle of the polarization. At just the right angle it was possible to see individual small objects swirling in the updraft, while an angular shift of only 15 or 20 degrees turned it to a vague, indistinct column and another 20 degree tilt made it invisible. It was all over in a matter of minutes, but left me wondering about the science of it all. Obviously we had first noticed it and had driven toward it while maintaining almost the same angle relative to the sun. If it had been backlit by the sunlight or straight away from the sunlight, we may have never seen it. My questions for you: Have you toyed with polarization, at all, while observing dust devils? Could you fit your camera with a polarized filter that could be rotated to the optimum angle? Would it be possible, using the drone, to manipulate your vantage point relative to the angle of the sunlight? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks for the awesome videos. Happy hunting!

[@jamessmith4172]

That’s a very interesting story, would love to hear more about polarisation and dust devils!

[@supercellstorm]

¡Vaya! Un vídeo sorprendente.. me gustó mucho la Naturaleza del fenómeno, aquí donde yo vivo tenemos muchísimos diablos de polvo habitualmente y yo acostumbro a salir en busca de ellos! Actúan como pequeños espíritus moviéndose a muchísima velocidad de rotación cuando son delgados y estirados! En cambio, cuanto mas gordos y/o anchos son, más lentos es su rotación si no hay vientos que lo desplazan a gran velocidad sobre el terreno.

[@Max-jp5dm]

Great video man! The editing, quality, and description you give about dust devils are 10 10

[@Im_gone_if_this_cloud_appears]

You should thy to create dust devils in nature by using many fans in a circular shape or doing the methods in the video, there is also a lot of large dust devils in the sonoran desert in Arizona

[@stevenmellet5555]

This is amazing, Nick ! As a paraglider pilot I can relate to your research, we are obviously quite afraid of dusties, but where I fly they are a common occurrence in summer - I saw several from the air just two days ago. Our understanding of them is that they are formed after a thermal has departed the ground, and surrounding cooler air rushes in from all directions to replace the low pressure left behind, forming the spinning air, rising to follow the departed thermal. As a paraglider pilot, you don't want to encounter one on final approach to landing, or even higher up !

[@supercellstorm]

Me gustó mucho el esfuerzo dedicado para Encontrar éstos fenómenos asociados al Calor del Astro Rey... 🌞🌪️🥰🌀 Los adoro! Siempre me han fascinado de Verdad... Estoy tan agradecido a su existencia.

[@HoIyAngel]

Nice video. Thank you for sharing your adventure 😊

[@NickSchrader]

Thank you for watching! I have an update video coming soon.

[@Tempest16500]

Fantastic video! I'm fascinated by dust devils (and their larger cousins) as well. Its great to see others appreciating how amazing they are. They're just as fascinating as tornadoes but without the danger, destruction and rarity. Hoping to chase & study them more when summer comes around again here in Australia. There is so much more to learn about them, I've been collecting hundreds of dust devil videos across KZbin and putting them into a playlist for future research. Also love your little dust devil model. If you don't mind me asking, is it the buoyancy of the smoke creating the updraft or have you got some kind of heated surface beneath? Thanks and hope you get some incredible dust devils this summer!

[@NickSchrader]

Thank you very much for watching! I will be sure to check out your playlist you've created. Also, thank you for the kind words on my dust devil model. I plan to make a detailed, separate video all about it in the near future. First, I take a heat light (replicating the sun) pointing straight down on a flat, dark surface (replicating the ground). My idea is to replicate the thermodynamics as closely as possible to the real thing. Since the tiny dust devils that form naturally from the heat provided by the light don't have nearly enough energy to move even the lightest dust, I decided to use ice-cooled fog as an indicator. It is a very tricky balance because the ice cooled fog sometimes cools the surface very quickly if I used too much, causing a temperature inversion at the surface which keeps them from forming. I find that the best method is the spread the ice cooled fog on the surface as thinly as possible, so that it is just warm enough to start rising. There are still many variations that I can't wait to try, such as the distance of the light overhead, multiple areas of fog spread across the surface at once to simulate wind gusts colliding at different angles, as well as finding the temperature difference between the air and surface to see if it matches up in the real world. It's still a pretty bare-bones model, but I can't wait to wok with it more! Thanks again for watching!

[@Tempest16500]

​@@NickSchrader Thanks for the detailed reply! That's a great setup you have there, very simple yet realistic and looks like it covers a fairly wide area too, would be interesting to see if you can get several vortexes at once. Can't wait to see more!

[@alexlubbers1589]

I was literally chasing dust devils as this video uploaded! What a coincidence! I too have been fascinated by dust devils ever since I was a kid and love going after them. Theres a spot near my favorite hiking area I call "whirlwind valley" and they occur all the time. The hotspot is a flood retention basin thats full of very fine powdery dust and surrounded by sloping concrete that helps focus the sun's heat.

[@NickSchrader]

That's very interesting, Alex! Thank you for watching!

[@NickSchrader]

I just realized that you are the original creator of the model tornado with the fog under the red sheet. That was an excellent idea! Did you channel the fog through pvc pipe underneath the sheet?

[@alexlubbers1589]

@@NickSchrader Sure did! I used a PVC pipe to direct the fog, and the sheet allows the fog to slow down and seep thru rather than blasting out and disrupting the vortex. I hope to make a video of how I made it, with my newer version.

[@brennuvargr4638]

Absolutely fantastic content. Thank you so much for going out and chasing them; this is the sort of video I love to see. I've never seen dust devils myself, but hope to one day (even though they're not all that common here in the UK). :)

[@LDQBBQ]

Beautifully done. I've long had a fascination with all types of whirls. They're gorgeous and absolutely fascinating. I also admire the passion you have for this endeavor as it is extremely reminiscent of how I go about my week long fishing trips. I grind all day hoping for a few moments of glory. I feel like this is the same thing. I look forward to more of your content.

[@imbetterthanyou3711]

bro is the pecos hank of dust devils

[@rafaelmacias9979]

I once saw a dust devil going across the street which it was more just swirling air from a dust devil that was picking up leaves but then it went into someone’s yard and it looked like a Full on tornado! But like a mini one and I’m surprised it didn’t leave a mark on the ground because that thing had a Strong and I mean STRONG updraft lifting up rocks! Until it hit a metal fence and died out :edit: it wasn’t a tall dust devil being no taller than a regular 1 story house

[@Mr194911]

Thanks for sharing reminded me of my childhood memories trying to get into a dirt devil

[@0987654321mnbvcxzmor]

There is so much we don't know about them,that intrigues me

[@apriltassin9934]

I've actually been chasing dust devils lately and I made a probe a weight in a gopro

[@hackyjacksgaming693]

Im genuinely annoyed of how underrated you are :(

[@flytelaw1]

Very nicely done, Nick! The cinematic quality is top notch while the story telling side juxtaposed with the scientific side, offer an emotive experience for the viewer. Keep up the good work. By the way, I would like to collaborate on this project as I have the privilege of seeing some other dust devil heavens, like Kilimanjaro where I have seen about 20 of them complete with branches on the approach into the airport. Cheers, Chris

[@wren5291]

I feel a lot of people really underestimate the importance of wind and how vital it is to so many processes, and yet if weren't for Earth/matter we wouldn't be able to see it! Makes me want to go and find our mini UK equivalents called Eddies🤗. Perhaps next time but without risking damaging it of course, you could try flying your drone a little bit closer?😁. This is an awesome film with some rather majestic shots🌪. Congrats. When's the next one lol?👏🏽🥳.

[@neilhawkes880]

I did my PhD research on buoyancy vortices - dust devils, waterspouts, fire whirls, and so on. Happy to discuss the theory of how they work and behave……

[@NickSchrader]

Hi Neil, thanks so much for reaching out! I would very much like to discuss these theories with you. I will keep you updated, thanks again!

[@neilhawkes880]

@@NickSchraderThat would be cool. I analyzed some data on dust devils in the Mojave that NASA collected prior to the Mars landings - a long while ago now! I found that the rotational kinetic energy is proportional to the CAPE available within the superadiabatic layer in the atmosphere. This explains why such devils are rare outside of dry deserts. Superadiabatic layers are inherently unstable in all senses of the word. That’s why they don’t generally get started u til lunchtime. The superadiabatic layers don’t build up before then. It turns out that these vortices need circulation around a vertical axis and buoyant air - that’s obvious - but less obviously, they also need axial strain, to balance radial diffusion. That requires lapse-rate divergence - where the core cools more slowly than the surrounding atmosphere. Then specific buoyancy increases with height and that provides the vertical stretching. You don’t get superadiabatic layers in temperate atmospheres much - but you do in deserts. Generally only 4-500m deep, so the devils aren’t that strong, but you can get deeper layers if cooler air is blown over the desert. This happens in some coastal places in Australia and China. When it does, the devils can exceed terminal velocity and people have been hurled around and killed! But rare is rare…

[@timweather3847]

Interesting, but rather disappointing dust devils. I had a bit of a problem with that bit about ‘hot air trapped under the colder air’. OK, the cold air is more dense, but that is precisely why the hot air starts to rise through it. The most devils I have seen were in Qatar, which I attributed to the meeting of sea breezes from the east and west coasts of the peninsula providing the vorticity to get them going.

[@ohhimark5723]

Go to oregon you will see a lot 👍

[@icetea622Roadblox]

Also, 2:06 I can't tell if its the screen or there a tiny teenie one

[@-108-]

Why didn't you just stay in Gerlach? No vacancy? You've gotta watch out for he BALLS High Power Rocket Launch & Burning Man at that time of year.

[@thedarkestlotus]

Your content differ from the others because you link photography and filming with actual interesting subjects. However, I feel like your videos lack color and contrast; it looks very dull in comparison to other youtubers out there. It made me realize that maybe it's the direction you chose to go. If it's the case I respect that, if not I think you should consider doing some tests for future videos. Keep up.

[@0987654321mnbvcxzmor]

If it came to easy it would not be as special

[@turgberbgus]

hi Nick Schrader do you have a discord also can I contact you on discord I would like to tell you a theory about dust devils

[@supercellstorm]

A mi también me encantan! 🌀🥰🌪️🌞💚