Holy cow! Those are the only words I have....holy cow. I took Izzie for a little walk since she was whining to go out. It had been a cloudy day which I knew would make for an awesome sunset. I checked the temperature...106 {its about 7:30pm at this point} and cloudy. I snapped some pictures of the clouds before I realized that they looked as if they were rolling. Rolling clouds here means dust. I scooped Izzie up as fast as I could and raced her inside. Haboob's pick up all sorts of particles on their journey through the desert and dogs are especially susceptible to catch Valley Fever, a fungal infection {about 70% of dogs who get Valley Fever are asymptomatic and the symptoms can range from mild to occasionally fatal - not risking that!} People can get it as well, but I wanted to make sure Izzie was protected from the dust as much as possible.
A haboob, or dust storm according to Wikipedia {the most trusted internet source} - "The word "haboob" comes from the Arabic word habb, meaning “wind.” A haboob is a wall of dust as a result of a microburst or downburst. The air forced downward is pushed forward by the front of a thunderstorm cell, dragging dust and debris with it, as it travels across the terrain. These dust storms are much more serious than dust devils. The wind during a haboob is usually up to about 30 mph and dust can rise high into the air as it blows over the Valley. A haboob can last for up to three hours." Its now 10:30pm and there has been a lot of rain and some lightning - temperatures have dropped significantly. It was 106 when the haboob came roaring in and it has dropped to 82 now. I can't walk Izzie yet because the storm hasn't passed yet and I can smell dust when I walk out onto my balcony - its been 3 hours now. I did not realize these things last so darn long!!
Here are some pictures from the haboob. Some are taken from instagram {#haboob}.
The day started beautiful and cloudy
What I thought were thunderclouds rolling in
Starting to realize these clouds may not be what they seem
In the dust storm - it was relatively dark with at times 0 visibility. It temporarily halted all air traffic - incoming and outgoing - to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Below are some pictures from Instagram
Have you ever been in a haboob?
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