People in Welsh village run from 'mini tornado' in pub car park

Reem Ahmed
·3-min read


CCTV footage has captured the moment people ran from what appeared to be a "mini tornado" near a pub in a Welsh village. The Begelly Arms in Begelly, Pembrokeshire, shared a clip of the incident, which happened in the afternoon of Sunday, May 19.

In it, a man and a woman can be seen running from a swirling cloud that is moving quickly from the car park towards the building. Another man can be seen running towards a table to save his drink before it gets toppled over by the small whirlwind.

The pub posted the footage on social media, writing that the village had experienced a "mini tornado". But the Met Office has confirmed to WalesOnline what happened was not a tornado but a 'dust devil'.

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The moment the dust devil formed in the car park
The moment the dust devil formed in the car park -Credit:Begelly Arms
The whirlwind passed over the blue open-top car seen in the picture and set off its alarm
The whirlwind passed over the blue open-top car seen in the picture and set off its alarm -Credit:Begelly Arms

Also known as a 'willy willy', a dust devil is an "upward spiralling, dust filled vortex of air that may vary in height from a few feet to over 1,000", according to the Met Office. While a tornado forms from clouds and grow towards the ground, a dust devil forms upwards from the ground due to a rising column of air.

They generally occur in desert and semi-arid areas, with dry ground and high surface temperatures producing strong updrafts. They typically only last a few minutes and though they may look like small tornadoes, they're far less powerful or destructive. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news

The phenomenon spooked customers, who fled for safety
The phenomenon spooked customers, who fled for safety -Credit:Begelly Arms
It moved very quickly and lasted about 30 seconds
It moved very quickly and lasted about 30 seconds -Credit:Begelly Arms

But the appearance of one outside the Begelly Arms still spooked customers, said the pub's owner Peter Adams. He said it was a sunny and still day, with "no wind at all", and the dust devil "came out of nowhere".

"My wife and I were sitting outside talking to one of our customers. We were just sitting there and having a quiet drink under the canopy," he said. "Then we heard a car alarm go off, looked round, and [the dust devil] is the first thing we saw." For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

The 66-year-old explained that the swirling mass had moved across the car - the blue open-top car in the CCTV footage - and set its alarm off in the process. It lasted for about 30 seconds, moving to the direction where Peter was sitting. "We didn't know what to expect...we all braced ourselves quickly and put our hands over the tops of the drinks," he said.

One customer sprinted to save his drink from the dust devil
One customer sprinted to save his drink from the dust devil -Credit:Begelly Arms

He said that there had been a couple of sightings in the area of funnel clouds - which form in the sky and turn into tornadoes if they reach the ground - and so at first they thought it could be one of them. "It hit the actual [canopy] where we were sitting, and I think it must have stopped it in its tracks."

He added: "I've never seen one like that before. You see gusts of winds now and again, but I've never seen one coming across the car park like that, moving as if it was being radio-controlled...It was quite strange to watch."

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