What's 8,000 feet tall and moves at 70 mph? This Texas dust cloud!

Dust storm roils through Texas South Plains

LUBBOCK, Texas — Winds gusting at more than 70 mph churned up a dust storm that roiled through the Texas South Plains during the Monday afternoon commute.

Dust kicked up by westerly breezes ahead of a strong cold front restricted visibility in Lubbock to about 5 miles all afternoon, said National Weather Service Lubbock meteorologist Matt Ziebell.

That was nothing compared to the 8,000-foot-high rolling dust cloud that moved through the city just before 6 p.m., dropping visibility to between zero and less than a quarter of a mile, Ziebell said.

North winds gusting as high as 74 mph had begun forming the dust cloud about 100 miles north of Lubbock around 4:30 p.m., he said.

"It went from light to dark, just like that," said Lubbock convenience store clerk Alma Williams. "I've never seen anything like it. It really scared me."

I saw on discovery that these sorts of storms would become more and more common as climate change continued, but I didn't expect to see them so soon. I'm not sure exactly how common these storms are, but they do seem to be getting stronger, much like the ones feared in Nevada.

Thoughts?

~Keeper

I uploaded about 15 pictures of my house being eaten by this thing, but they were way too big. I got discouraged.

I might try and shrink one down.



This was when I noticed it.



Five mins later.



This thing was moving quick.






Then it ate us. It was a good show tho.

reply to post by Bobaganoosh


Yeah, that would be great, or if you can post them somewhere else online, I'd love to see them. These dust storms fascinate me.

~Keeper

That is really the sort of thing that makes me glad im over in blighty! Small island, no chance of such enormous dust clouds. Aside from all the obvious health implications, it would be a bugger hanging your washing out!

Is this sort of thing expected to become more commonplace with all the dry weather over with you? Are there any agricultural implications for the area that has this excess soil dumped on it eventually?

reply to post by Flavian


Here's a documentary about Earth in 2025, It covers multipel topics, but there is a segment regarding large dust storms.

Source

reply to post by Bobaganoosh


Wow, although you know it is natural did that not really freak you out? What is breathing like in it? Can't believe how quickly it came along either.......not a lot of time to get stuff inside

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Hehe, I just love saying it. Haboob! Here comes a Haboob!.. With a name like that, who couldn't be fascinated by this phenomenon.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
I saw on discovery that these sorts of storms would become more and more common as climate change continued, but I didn't expect to see them so soon. I'm not sure exactly how common these storms are, but they do seem to be getting stronger, much like the ones feared in Nevada.

edit on 10/18/2011 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)

These are actually very common. Google: "how common are dust storms in Texas?"
Major dust storm sweeps through Texas

Dust storms are common across Texas during dry and windy conditions and walls of dust more than a mile high can blanket an area in a matter of seconds, sometimes reducing visibility to zero.

Texas is currently experiencing a severe drought, which increases the likelihood of dust storms.

I lived in Lubbock for a few years while attending Texas Tech, and I walked through a few of these between classes. Its not a cool feeling getting pelted by tons of dust at high speeds, but its also not something that needs alarms and whistles related to climate change - that's overreacting quite a bit. We used to get these pretty often during the summer, and even more so when rainfall was below average (currently we're experiencing a really bad drought). While they may not always be as strong as this particular storm, its definitely an alarmist and agenda based decision to say these dust storms are becoming "stronger" without stating that these events naturally increase when rainfall is lower.

*Edit to add*
Also, to claim these are getting "stronger" without any supporting evidence is quite easy. Would you like to share your information that you based these claims off of? Because just based on my personal experiences, I've been in worse ones than this. Also, with the social media-age in high gear, we tend to see more reports like this in increasing frequency - don't let that trick you in to thinking a regularly and naturally occurring event is suddenly a new and increasingly frequent event.

reply to post by Bobaganoosh


Wow, Thanks for the pics, they're really clear.

It's amazing how fast it comes in and the vision, it's almost like wearing those fog glasses.

Do you see them that size very often?

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Cool and many thanks. I will have a look at that a bit later on (boss is back soon ).

I just love this site and the totally wide variety of people that like to congregate here. Kind of gives you a bit more faith in the people of this planet; even when there are arguments people try to explain their reasoning rather than just saying because (online version of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying lalalalalala)

reply to post by tothetenthpower


This was supposedly the biggest in 80 years, but we tend to see 1 or two a year like this lately. They all look big when they are right in front of you.

The particulates in the air are really fine. I was outside for just a minute or two after it hit. I've seen enough of them not to freak out when they come my way. I just like to climb up on something and watch them come.

That's VERY interesting, being in Texas because:

When Arizona had those large dust stroms last Summer I researched it and the story at that time was that "ONLY" the Arizona desert (Majave?) and the Sahara have the dust storms. It struck me odd that they'd be the "ONLY" two places in the world.

I remember history class about The Dustbowl and I live in Central Texas on a hilltop which was the Southernmost tip in Texas where The Dustbowl reached.

With everything either dead or burnt here, it did seem logical we would get dust storms.

Thank you for the news, I'm severely allergic to dust and other things and will watch more closely on windy days like today.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

Too bad in reality dust storms happen more frequently during global cooling periods when earth is more DRY.
You are a victim of brainwashing if you actually believe that global warming equals drier planet.

Originally posted by juleol
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

Too bad in reality dust storms happen more frequently during global cooling periods when earth is more DRY.
You are a victim of brainwashing if you actually believe that global warming equals drier planet.

Somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed?

I never used the term "Global Warming", I used "Climate Change", which is a fact that our climate is changing dramatically, as it has, in cycles throughout the earth's history. I'm not here to argue that fact with you either way.

I simply wanted to post something pretty cool that I'd seen this morning with my morning coffee and my newspaper, I hope you enjoyed.

~Keeper

Dang, with all that dust,

looks like y'all need a new maid!









I jest..that actually looks kinda scary,

makes it hard to breathe, no?