This is the moment a dust devil tornado formed among worried shoppers in a market in the Philippines.

Footage shows rotating gusty winds carrying debris and dust into the air as shocked shoppers watched from a distance in Compostela Valley province on July 27.

Some of the shoppers and vendors fled out of fear but the weather phenomenon disappeared after only three minutes.

Onlooker Arnel Lupo said the weather suddenly changed while they were in the market stalls.

He said: ‘It was hot that day, but the sky turned dark. Some of the people were scared and left.'

Dust devils form when a pocket of hot air near the surface rises through cooler air above. If the conditions are just right, it may begin to rotate.

They are generally smaller than tornadoes but they can still be destructive as they still lift dust and debris into the air.

Dust devils are a type of whirlwind tornado that form when the sun heats a patch of land and the air above becomes warmer and rises quickly. Cooler air then moves into the low-pressure gap left by the rising warm air. The new drafts of cooler air also heat up, rise and the cycle continues, picking up dust and debris making the spiral visible.