Australia Weather News

A "crazy" weather event at a southern New South Wales market has shocked onlookers and almost blown away a stall gazebo.

Seriya Blackmore was selling baby clothing at a market at Muttama, north of Gundagai, on Sunday when a dust devil struck the stall.

"It was crazy, it came all of a sudden and everyone was doing the best they could to hold their tents," she told ABC Riverina Breakfast.

"It wasn't even that windy."

A video of the incident shows a whirly wind forming among market stalls, before it picks up Ms Blackmore's gazebo.

"There's a man, if you can see the video, he's grabbed it just in time and he's held on for his life," she said.

"I had to let go, it was so strong"

Ms Blackmore said the event "happened within a few seconds" before bystanders helped put the stall back together.

She was not aware of any injuries as a result.

"Four other men came over and they fixed it and put it back up and all the ladies were helping me clean the clothes off and dust all the dust off," she said.

"Lots of people came over and still bought some things and were saying they were sorry and glad that I set back up."

Hot air rising

Miriam Bradbury from the Bureau of Meteorology said dust devils were caused by hot air rising from the ground.

"It creates unstable conditions which eventually forms a vortex, this rapidly rotates and starts stretching upwards, intensifying this circulation," she said.

"Once they get stronger, they can pick up dust and debris as we've seen in this video."

Ms Bradbury said dust devils would eventually dissipate once they come in contact with cooler air.

"It'll move into the shade, or it'll move into a pocket of cooler air and instead of drawing in the warm air, it draws in the cool air and that helps it topple over," she said.

"Usually they dissipate less then a minute or so after forming.

"They can last longer ... but that's quite unusual."