I experienced my first serious monsoon haboob on the balcony today. Born in Phoenix, I've seen hundreds of monsoon storms but few haboobs, which are intense walls of sand and dust that can go three thousand feet into the air. This was the Mama of all dust storms! Within seconds, the afternoon sky turned from sunny to dark and the haboob began rolling in.
By the time I ran inside to grab my camera, the sky was dusky blue and the wind was beginning to pick up. Reports of 60 mile an hour winds were on the TV so I snatched up my more delicate plants and took them inside while hoping the stronger ones, too heavy to carry quickly, would survive. Finally, I went back to the balcony to enjoy the storm...until the dust hit...and I couldn't get inside fast enough. A mouthful of that stuff is like sea salt scrubbing your teeth!
I watched for a long time through the glass doors and was amazed to see the dog park across from me become engulfed in dust and invisible to me. The haboob lasted about 20 minutes and then the rains came in a wonderful downpour! With "free" water for my plants, I rushed around, bringing them all back to the balcony so they could experience the cleansing rain too. I had been looking forward to this so much because not only do I adore rain, I have a metal carport cover and couldn't wait to hear the rain on the roof tops.
It sounded like music to my ears.
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| Dust cloud by dave | Jul 6, 2011 12:36 PM | 2 |
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