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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.
Tornado, a small-diameter column of violently rotating air developed within a convective cloud and in contact with the ground. Tornadoes occur most often in association with thunderstorms during the spring and summer in the mid-latitudes of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.