Phoenix dust storm was like 'special-effect scene'
Phoenix dust storm was like 'special-effect scene'. The air around the Phoenix area was a hazy shade of brown and a layer of dirt coated cars and buildings Wednesday following a massive dust storm overnight. The storm halted airline flights, knocked out power to nearly 10,000 people and fouled up thousands of swimming pools.
Because dust storms, also known by the Arabic term "haboobs," are so hard to predict, Tuesday's took everyone by surprise.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the storm moved like a giant wave, the dust roiling as it approached at up to 60 mph. Once it hit, visibility dropped to zero in some areas, the sky turned nearly black, trees blew sideways, and even downtown Phoenix skyscrapers became invisible.
"Just the height of it looked like a special-effect scene from a movie, like a dust storm out in Africa," said Charlotte Dewey, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Phoenix. "It looked so huge, looking at the city down below, it was just specks of light and miniature buildings.
"I have a feeling that people will be talking about this for another week or two, at least," Dewey said.
She said meteorologists were still trying to get exact measures from satellite and radar to figure out how big the dust storm was and compare it with previous ones, but they estimate it was more than a mile high and more than 100 miles wide. Initial reports had estimated it was 50 miles wide.
"People who've lived here their whole lives, 30 or 40 years, are saying they've never seen a storm this large," Dewey said.
She said winds from separate thunderstorms in the eastern and southern parts of the state collided somewhere between Phoenix and Tucson and combined with a severe lack of moisture to create the wall of dust. The storm also hit the Yuma area in southwestern Arizona, and far western Arizona.
Read more: msn
