Is that a tornado ?

Driving back from lunch today in the Engine, the whole crew talking about how surpisingly not horrible the meal was, I looked out into the Desert (ok.. not a very far look) and something odd caught my eye.  Is that smoke ?  Looks like it... but that's a hell of a column... and a little light... light enough it was almost impossible to see without good sun-glasses on.

Dust Devil at Ramadi

Drove on, a little further, and it became aparent what we were looking at..... Does Iraq have Tornados ?

Yes.. I saw my first "REAL" dust devil today.... was quite amazing to see a small twister of sand stretch about 200' into the sky. It actually crossed the road right in front of us (sand-blasting the Tahoe that chose to drive through) LOL. Yes.. I'm easily amused... but this was pretty cool to be that close to it.... watched it trek and grow for about a mile ... unfortunately.. now there's a ton of sand thrown up in the aire that has to come back down.... and I just swept my floor this morning...
...aaaand, of course... I didn't have my Camera with me... but, I'm sure it won't be the last... just the first (big one).