Massive dust storm descends on Phoenix area

[Love is the answer]

Phoenix, Ariz.— A massive dust storm has swept into the Phoenix area and drastically reduced visibility across the valley.

The wall of dust moved across the desert from the south on Tuesday and descended on the valley by nightfall. KSAZ-TV reported the storm appeared to be roughly 50 miles wide.

 

Photos: Phoenix dust storm

[Howard]

Phoenix Sees 13th Rare "Haboob" of 2012 (August 12) -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187987/Incredible-photos-m...

It’s becoming a familiar sight for Phoenix residents – a massive wall of dust rolling over the city swallowing everything in its path.

Yet another dust storm slammed through the Arizona city this weekend, bringing this year’s tally up to 13, and the terrifying phenomenon was caught on camera.

The thick wall of dust, known as a haboob, which is Arabic for 'strong wind,' was first seen making its way through Casa Grande before it headed for Phoenix.

Saturday’s dust storm forced roads to be closed and reportedly made it difficult for residents to see and breathe.

As one resident, Ron Klegman, told ABC: 'It was pretty dense. You couldn’t breathe and you couldn’t really see. It got really, really dark really really quickly.’

At the end of last month an enormous dust cloud measuring around 2,000 feet tall and almost 100km wide swept over the city, traveling at 35mph. The dust cut power to some 9,000 homes and caused disruptions at the local airport.

Known as the granddaddy of dust storms, the haboob is a rare event and is caused by loose dust being blown upwards in the absence of rain and collecting skywards where it is then propelled by another more distant thunderstorm brewing behind it.

According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix experiences on average about 3 haboobs per year during the months of June through September.  Source

[Lavonne]

Great footage Ko Re - Thanks for posting our visitors.

[Quo Vadis]

Astro Gal50- These storms are always massive and to my knowledge there is no graduating scale for them. Thus it's very hard to quantify, but it was a doozy. The following day a lot of my friends were cleaning dust out of their businesses. Fine dust everywhere, came through the cracks and onto everything. Probably will be an upsurge in sicknesses with all the dust still lingering in the air. It really helped put into perspective what the air quality will be like in the aftertime. I couldn't see any of the mountains around here with all the dust still lingering. I can see how they (Moses) got lost in the desert without being able to get their bearings.

[S.V.]

Here is today's news article warning about Valley Fever and as usual,  blaming "global warning"

 

Hotter temps and more intense dust storms are propelling an endemic disease across the Southwest United States.

 7-6-11
By Janice Arenofsky
Environmental Health News
and The Daily Climate

Valley fever blowin’ on a hotter wind.

PHOENIX – It's high noon, and the 112-degree summer heat – up from a decade ago – stalks Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. By late afternoon, dark clouds threaten, and monsoon winds beat the earth into a mass of swirling sand. Thick walls of surface soil blind drivers on the Interstate.

Some health experts believe new weather conditions – hotter temperatures and more intense dust storms fueled by global warming – are creating a perfect storm for the transmission of coccidioidomycosis, also known as valley fever, a fungal disease endemic to the southwestern United States...."

Full article:  http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/valley-fever/Valley-Fever...

[S.V.]

@ astrogal50, Yes and tastes like it too.   After securing things, I rushed back into the house with sand in my mouth and eyes.  In California we are warned about Valley Fever from dust... wonder if  AZ has something like that? 

[astrogal50]

Thank you for the local report, Quo Vadis.  But I cannot tell if you mean the storm was "a pretty big one" or just "a little bigger than usual." 

It sure looks huge!  If we must go back as far as 1939 to find a similar storm, then this was a very unusual event indeed.  Combine this with all the other earth changes, and it smells like another Planet X related event to me.

[S.V.]

As far as the media goes, the dust storm here was reported in Japan today.  I got several emails from friends over there asking if I was OK.

[S.V.]

 

 

I live on a mountain in the Greater Phoenix area... 24 miles from Phoenix.  Monsoon weather started happening on July 2 and it was not too bad.    Then last night, July 5th, the massive dust storm came.  We saw it moving through the valley below and coming our way.  The wind blew over some heavy yard furniture.   WE spent lots of time cleaning up dust today.  The bottom of the  swimming pool was completly covered with  1/4 inch deep sand.  Compared to other people on this earth who are dealing with catastropic weather conditions right now,  we know that the dust storm here... was just a drop in the bucket.   

[Quo Vadis]

David- As a 25 year resident of Phoenix, this Dust Storm was a pretty big one as far as dust storms go. I don't quite have a scale to quantify it, but as far as my memory serves, it was a little bigger than usual. We are in the Monsoon season here and these dust storms and intense rains are par for course. It is unusual that this dust storm got the unusual amount of attention as it did. What was very unusual is the fact that there were UFO's!!!!!! No one commented on them being in the video I posted, just the insane amount of dust we got. UFO's were at the forefront of this dust storm. How often do you ever see that? The other thing we all talked about around here was...since when did we start calling them haboobs?

[K Tonkin]

Link to the NOAA page for this storm... notice they haven't put an excuse on there yet (as of 7/6/11)??

 

NOAA Link