Huge AZ Dust Storm 7/5/2011

[intothewild]

Saw a Dust Storm building to the south, hopped in the car and headed after it..Ended up being the biggest dust storm I've ever been in..60 Miles wide, winds of 70+ mph, once it swallowed us, it took over half an hour for it to let up enough to where visibility was decent enough to drive.

Blew the drivers side taillight right off..Broke the brackets, had to stop at a gas station and duct tape it lol

Shortly before it hit, I hopped in the car and started filming it as it swallowed us..

Heres the youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PihtM7E_5vE

Pictures aren't as good as I hoped, by the time we got to a decent location to take pictures of it, we only had about 2 minutes before it hit us! But they still give you an idea of just how big this sucker was.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

That's awesome! great pics!

 

[Riptide]

Holy cow!!! That is some incredible footage!

How often do you get these things?

Man, I'm lovin' New England right now...

 

[maxingout]

I was in my swimming pool when the wall of sand came through. It suddenly went dark as the wall passed overhead. Amazing.

Next morning there was a brown layer of dust on the bottom of the pool. There must have been a bazillion tons of dust in the air.

 

[Pooch72]

I was in Doha, Qatar in 2006 and saw the same stuff. Completely baffles the mind to see sunshine, then it goes to near dark in minutes. The worst one we experienced lasted about 15 minutes and left a layer of sand an inch thick on everything.

There's pictures similar to the ones posted here from Iraq in either 2005 or 2006 that is totally EPIC. Most people think the pictures are fake, but no, this stuff really happens, and happens that big.

Thanks for posting your pictures!

 

[Wander]

Wow! I would expect the four horsemen to be leading that storm in as the world comes to an end!

I guess if anyone in Phoenix ever wondered what it was like to live in Mali they now have there answer.

 

[77blazerchalet]

..How often do you get these things?...

Actually several times each summer and a few other random times of the year, inevitably some folks act like they've never seen one before which accounts for spectacular freeway pileups. The rest of us see one coming and go though the routine of rolling up all the windows, closing up other stuff, and hoping the wind isn't too bad. Yawn / grrr. Interesting to look at, but has an annoyance factor, too.

I'd say what made this one especially different was the texture of the dust, much more powdery and fluffy instead of the usual sandy grit. The regular stuff is easier to sweep up and the whole place has just a gritty look to it 'till the next big rain washes it away. My apartment complex looked like a post-apocalyptic nightmare before the lawn sprinklers came on and before lots of cars started swirling around the dust in the roadways.....:Wow1:

 

[Honu]

our pool was brown everything was brown at our place

I missed it though ? must have been working or napping

 

[Overland Hadley]

I missed it though ? must have been working or napping

How long do these things last?

 

[intothewild]

It depends on how big it is, from the time this one hit us until we could see well enough to get back on the road was probably a good 30-40 minutes.

 

[Honu]

Ditto I was in the office in our house working ? windows have black out shades so did not see
we did have a ton of wind that day earlier also

I have only been here a few years so only seen a couple they come and go pretty quick and usually they dont get this far north it seems ?

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Those are some awesome pics and footage!!

Thanks for sharing

I wonder if the next day Home Depot and Lowe's was sold out of Shop-Vac filters...LOL

 

[Sexy6Chick]

How long do these things last?

This one was 50 miles long (70 miles at one point). It started around 7:30 p.m. and the warning went until 8:45 p.m. At our house it lasted for at least 30 minutes, may have been 40. I am still coughing up dust - it is EVERYWHERE haha.

 

[AmericaOverland]

I knew we had dust devils and some dust storms, but haboobs? Like in the middle east?! Wow!

:Wow1: