An Excellent Snow Devil Spins Up in Quebec.

Today, as we continue to slog through the never ending winter of 2014, at least we have something cool to watch.

A fairly rare snow devil pushes through some
trees in Quebec recently.   

In early March, a large snow devil spun up in Quebec, and somebody got it on video.

The snow devil is the same idea as a dust devil, the sudden tornado like whirl of dust you sometimes see on sunny, warm, relatively calm days.

Dust devils depend  partly upon updrafts of warm air to get going.

Warm air rises into a pocket of cooler air, and if the wind is just right, the air might rotate. The colum of rising air is stretched vertically, the axis of rotation draws in, like the way a figure skater spins faster if she makes her body more compact, and there you go.

Usually dust devils are not dangerous as the winds inside them aren't too bad. But occasionally, you can get damage or injuries from a especially strong one.

Snow devils are a bit more rare, because of course there's not that much hot air to rise when it's cold enough for snow around. But as long as the column of rising air is warmer than the air surrounding it, you can get a snow devil.

In any event, they're pretty cool, as you can watch, below.