Hello! I’m new here and a bit late to the event but I’m hoping to have time to work on this.
This is the reference for what I would like to try to make, a snow-devil/tornado/twister:
Source
Here is my plan of attack on this one:
Looking forward to this, and seeing everyone else’s effects too! Especially the frozen bubble, that looks like a fun one for sure. 
That’s an awesome piece of reference, I can’t wait to see what you make of it - it looks like you have a solid plan, good luck!
Haven’t had a lot of time to work on this just yet but I’m hoping by this weekend I will!
Made the main mesh and distorted the UVs (this image is inaccurate now, realized later I want them distorted the other way, oops!):
Set up a few blendshapes to use later in my script:
And have started on the shader in Unity. Simple stuff atm, scrolling UV and a little vertex offset. Texture is placeholder one atm so I can see what I’m doing!
Current state. All one shader still, but it is getting more complex (and messy lol, will fix that soon). Decided I will add a skirt mesh at the base to get a faster spin there, and will do a quick experiment with some particles rotating around the main mesh.
Really wanted to wrap this up but I ended up with a lot less free time this week then I hoped for. I do plan to work on this when I can. Next sketch I have time for, I’ll be sure to get in at the beginning instead!
Looks good 
I found out that if any “layered” fx have different scrolling speed per layer , it adds a bit of complexity and snaps the whole thing together…Usually the closest ones move faster then the distant ones. Anyways , good job and keep it up 