A Dust Storm in Arizona Looks like the End of the World
I’ve seen some pretty amazing pictures of sand storms before. I’ve seen great footage of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and even typhoons. And in most cases when you see pictures of these natural events, they are posing a serious threat to whatever region they’re in. Dust storms are no different but they are quite rare. At least they are rare in the respect of the one that just took place here in the U.S.
A few weeks ago in Phoenix they had some serious dust storm action. The dust storm was estimated to reach a peak height of at least 5,000 to 6,000 (about a mile) with an aerial coverage on the leading edge stretching nearly 100 miles, according to the National Weather Service. The storm traveled at least 150 miles, much farther than the average 25 to 50 miles that dust storms typically travel.
In fact that article went on to say that it was a “100 year storm.” Over 10,000 people lost power and the whole sky was red. It was crazy to say the least. Check out pictures after the jump…
Thanks to Buzzfeed for the photos
That bottom one is an old one from an Army post in the middle east.
Yeah we’ve gotten a 1 or two again this year. Down here in Tucson as well as Phoenix.
Usually it kicks up around mid summer when the monsoon season starts up, down in Tucson we get insane rain, up in Phoenix they get giant brown shit clouds.
I’m bummed nobody did this
http://needcoffee.cachefly.net/needcoffee/uploads/2008/09/iron-man-jericho.jpg
I moved to Phoenix in May and I’ve experienced about 7 of these in the last month. For those of you in colder climates, it’s pretty much a blizzard made of sand.
Dust storms, or ‘haboobs” ( google it) are actually a frequent occurrence in AZ. We get them every summer around monsoon time. While ominous looking, the real fun starts when the climate changes to full-on monsoons, which causes flash flooding and crazy hail storms (at times). Needless to say, when these hit, it’s a poor day to wash your car.