Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Nighttime Dust Storm Engulfs Phoenix Area

July 29,2015
A wall of dust, known as a haboob, triggered by monsoon season thunderstorms rolled through the Phoenix area Tuesday night.
A cluster of showers and thunderstorms southwest of Greater Phoenix produced outflow winds of about 30 mph that kicked up dust and sent it rolling north into the valley, said weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen.
Sky Harbor Airport reported blowing dust, but the brunt of the haboob appeared to hit the East Valley, where Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport reported visibility as low as 3/4 of a mile.
(MORE: Phoenix 10-Day Forecast)
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality cameras captured the outflow boundary as it moved through the area. There were no reports of injuries.
Haboobs occur mostly during the summer months in Phoenix, but are not restricted to monsoon season.
According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix experiences an average of about three haboobs a year during from June through September. Across the state, more than 100 dust storms have been reported in the past decade.
MORE: Haboobs Caught on Camera

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