Any strong, potentially destructive wind (Job 27:20; Psalms 77:18; Daniel 11:40). Whirlwinds are sometimes called dust devils. While whirlwinds are common in the arid regions of the Middle East, the apparent fury and destructiveness of the biblical "whirlwinds" makes it unlikely that the relatively harmless dust devils are meant (compare Amos 1:14; Habakkuk 3:14). Sirocco winds from the eastern deserts are sometimes cyclonic in form, but the winds in Scripture may not be whirlwinds in the technical sense.
Biblical whirlwinds were often associated with divine activity. Elijah was taken into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1, 11). God frequently spoke out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1; 40:6; Psalms 77:18). The description of the sudden destruction of divine judgment was frequently associated with storms, tempests, and whirlwinds (Hosea 8:7; Amos 1:14; Nahum 1:3; Habakkuk 3:14).