VIDEO: Massive dust devil recorded in the Willamette Valley 

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An enormous dust devil swirling more than 100 feet into the air was recorded in Albany Tuesday around 2:50 p.m.

Meteorologist with Portland’s National Weather Service office Miles Higa told KOIN 6 News that the dust devil appeared to be spinning at a rate of 40 mph and may have been as tall as 200 feet tall based on the video.

“I wouldn't want to get caught up in that,” Higa said. “That’s a lot of dust flying around.”

Corvallis man Jakeb Bender, who provided the video, told KOIN 6 News the dust devil spun for roughly 10 minutes before dissipating near the Selmet Inc. foundry located northeast of the I-5, Highway 34 interchange.

Higa said that local dust devils generally last for about a minute and aren't usually as well-defined as the dust devil seen in Bender’s video. However, he said that Albany’s peak afternoon temperatures and dusty conditions could allow for a dust devil like the one seen in the video. While Tuesday's dust devil could be mistaken for a tornado, Higa said that the processes behind tornadoes and dust devils are a bit different.

“Basically, a dust devil is formed when you have high surface heating and you get a little disturbance from the terrain nearby, allowing the winds to start curving around and then it just concentrates itself,” Higa said. “A tornado is off of a thunderstorm and more of a top-down mechanism. There's similar rotation and all that, but with a tornado you need a thunderstorm formation.”

While dust devils are generally smaller than tornadoes, Higa said that a dust devil of this size could damage nearby trees or outbuildings and possibly injure people.

“The one’s I've seen were east of the Cascades over more grassy fields, not in the valley,” he said. “This one is pretty impressive. It’s picking up a lot of dust.”