Apocalyptic video, photos show dust storm engulf Arizona desert
On Monday evening in southern Arizona, cars and trucks disappeared from the usually well-trafficked Interstate 8 highway.
A massive dust storm, known as a haboob, smothered the road and surrounding region in a thick cloud of desert dust. Storm chaser Mike Olbinski had a "good inkling" thunderstorms in the area might produce such a storm, and rushed east, from California.
SEE ALSO:Bear cam cub gets killed by a powerful male bear. Why?But he wasn't expecting a towering, apocalyptic wall of dust.
"The dust storm was so bad everyone stopped driving on the road," said Olbinski in an interview. "It was intense and pretty dangerous."
Olbinski chased storms for 600 miles on Monday, including this particular haboob for some 150 miles. Eventually, as night fell, the storm caught up to him and smothered his truck.
"This dust storm had zero visibility," said Olbinski, who also noted winds between 50 and 75 miles per hour. "It basically sandblasted my truck."
Haboobs, derived from the Arabic word "haab," which means wind or blow, typically hit during the desert Southwest's monsoon season, in which thunderstorms can drop deluges of rain onto the parched desert.
If conditions are right, these thunderstorms will move from higher terrain or mountainous areas to the lower deserts, said Ken Waters, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service Phoenix office, in an interview.
Once here, thunderstorms "expend all their energy at once," said Waters.
The rain-cooled air "just kind of collapses," and as this air shoots out from the storm, it ripples over the ground, stirring up sand and dust from the desert floor.
"That dust gets lofted and basically just forms a big cloud that moves rapidly," said Waters. "As it moves, it tends to pick up more dust."
Tweet may have been deleted
Waters estimates this particular haboob traveled around 250 miles. During these events, the dust-laden winds can sometimes hit 80 to 100 mph, Waters noted, and past haboobs have traveled some 400 miles with dust reaching up to 6,000 feet high.
"They can be quite hazardous if you're on the road — it can be lights out, and you can’t see five or 10 feet ahead," said Waters.
It's understandable, then, why cars had vacated the interstate. Except, of course, for some brazen storm chasers.
"We could have kept running, but it had gotten dark," said Olbinski.
Featured Video For You
Ever wonder how the universe might end?
相关文章
- 阳江村K开麦,阳西3人晋级!| 2024广东乡村歌手大赛_南方+_南方plus8月20日晚,2024广东乡村歌手大赛阳江赛区正式开启。首场赛事在阳西县的“文化地标”——阳西县文化馆演艺厅拉开序幕。演艺2024-09-22
North Korea blasts Japan over claim to Dokdo
Dokdo / Korea Times file North Korea lashed out at Japan, Saturday, for its claim to Dokd2024-09-22Korean universities studying ways to make inroads abroad
South Korean universities, which are worried about their futures due to dropping birthrates, are stu2024-09-22- 本报讯 3月22日以来,我市遭遇一次明显的降温降雨天气过程,据统计,日平均气温在72小时内累计下降了10度。25日一早,记者看到市区周围的几座高山山顶上都出现了皑皑白雪,足见此次“倒春寒”来得相当猛。2024-09-22
How to Backup Your Gmail Account
There are a number of reasons why you might need to backup your email account. You might be changing2024-09-22Twitter will remove millions of accounts from users' follower numbers
Some of Twitter's most popular users may soon start losing a lot of followers.The company announced2024-09-22
最新评论