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Confidence votes 95.7K. A sand tornado is not truly a tornado. It is a phenomenon called a dust devil. Dust devils are whirlwinds that form when a layer of hot air forms just above the ground and rises in a relatively small, rotating column, picking up up dust or sand as it does so. Dust devils are rarely strong enough to cause damage, and are much weaker than tornadoes.
A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris.Tornadoes are the most violent of all atmospheric storms. excellent comprehensive list of questions and answers about tornadoes can be found here: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/. What we do: NSSL is working to simulate storms that produce tornadoes in computer models to better understand how they form and behave.