Hi all, I just spotted this on the local news outlet, which happened yesterday lunchtime in the southern part of Reading (about 10 minutes away from me).

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/wizard-oz-whirlwind-hits-reading-5117146

Have any other dust devils of this nature been reported elsewhere during this warm spell?

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Dangerous...Does not say if  was fixed to the ground....

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Interesting. You can see several examples of dustdevils on you tube, some of which are quite impressive and more than capable of causing a problem (one at a football match in particular), but they are quite rare in the UK.
Not tornadic in any way, they are related to hot rising air that is triggered to spin by wind eddies or buildings for instance, but I have seen them over open fields in Spain.
The lifting power is a product of the vertical vector within the vortex and the horizontal wind speeds are mostly quite moderate, but the ability to lift and tirn a metal shed is at teh high end I would think.

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I've posted some time ago about one a few years back at our house. It came through the garden, threw all our garden furniture up in the air and the pressure change slammed every door shut in our house in one massive bang. I just managed to make out a high inverted cone shape which went over the fence into the neighbouring field. Shot out with a camera to find something like a cartoon whirlwind full of whirling dust in the field, a bit higher than the roofline of our house. It promptly collapsed to nothing.

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I witnessed a very localised one at a music festival some years ago. It picked up one tent (out of a field full of them) and whirled it high into the air, scattering all the contents out of the open door. I think the tent landed at least a hundred yards away. It was quite amusing to watch.

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Could be worse, it might have been Jirie's shed. [sn_bsmil] But he could have got some decent upper air recordings, though,

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Flipping heck . Looks nasty . Interesting that out of no where a whirlwind in favored conditions.

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In 1976 - during conditions much like now  - one moved across a neighbour's (almost ready to bale) hay field, clearing about two acres and depositing it on tree branches up to a mile away.
The field had mature conifers on the slope above and it seemed likely that hot air rising from the field interacted with cool air flowing down from the woodland to start it off. 

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The most impressive dust devil I've ever seen first-hand was in Son Bou, Menorca. It occured in the main car park for the beach - a stretch of very dry dust and sand.

In fact, there was one after another for hours on end, usually between 10 and 30 minutes apart. Inevitably I was caught by one when parked down there ready for the beach. It was about 15 cars wide while the height was difficult to determine but probably taller than nearby 2-story buildings.

Damage was minimal, except to people's comfort. Didn't enjoy having sand in my ears before I'd even set foot on the beach

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One was reported in Skegness on NetWeather.

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Over the years there have been occasional reports of it raining hay from blue sky.

What you have described is the logical culprit.

Interestingly, it can also rain beetles and worms. In fact, worms sometimes get caught up in hot updraughts even without a whirlwind present, leading to a seemingly random scattering of 'worm rain' (or so I've read... need to find that book )

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Here's a dust devil that I spotted on Chat Moss 3 years ago. It must have been high because the telegraph pole that can be seen was about 300m away.

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Btw, interesting read about it.

Its because of a dust devil that I started here on TWO !
I experienced one during a very warm August o, n the edge of a cornfield while helping out during harvest : it whipped across the mown field, turning over dogs, hay bales and equipment everywhere !
I rang TORRO who put me in touch with TWO , where I have been for the past 10 years !

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