One of the things I love about Arizona is our lack of crazy weather. We don’t have to worry about hurricanes, tornadoes or blizzards (at least in central AZ). Arizona does, however, have something that is foreign to a majority of the country – haboobs, an Arabic word for dust storm.
Monsoon season starts in late June. Despite the intense heat, Arizonans look forward to monsoon season because it means RAIN! When it rains in Arizona, we all have to Facebook about it because it’s a pretty big deal!
Well today we got hit by our first haboob of the summer! Yes, it’s a funny word, but one we love to hear. It means gloom and excitement! Haboobs are massive dust storms that engulf the city. It could be a perfectly sunny day, when all of a sudden you see a wall of dust moving toward you. It hits quickly. Although dust storms are dangerous to drive in, they sure are fun to watch from inside the house…as long as your lawn furniture isn’t blowing away.
As I watched today’s haboob quickly creeping up from the south, I made sure all of the animals were inside and the doors were closed and locked. The wind gusts can get up to 60mph and can cause serious damage. I sat in my office and opened all of the blinds. The sun started disappearing as the skies became brown. Before I knew it, it was on top of us. Wynston and Khloee sat with me looking out the window, watching as the trees in front of our house swayed from side to side. In massive haboobs, it’s hard to see even 50 feet in front of you.
Now that haboobs are back, I sure hope some rain will follow in the coming weeks. We tend to get more dust storms than rain storms, but in a perfect world, rain will follow the haboob and wash away the dust. ALL of my animals love the rain, so I definitely hope we see some soon!
Have you ever experienced any dust storms?!
Ron says
Your blog reminded me of an article written by Dr. Salemi a few years ago about the health risk of haboobs and Valley Fever.
http://www.oasisanimalclinic.com/2013/02/28/valley-fever-and-the-haboob/
Amanda says
Thanks for this Dr. T!