Massive Haboob Hits Arizona: What is a Haboob and How Does It Form?

Haboob - brought to you by weather wars 2011!



Massive dust wall moves through Phoenix area

A massive dust wall moved through Phoenix Tuesday night, reducing visibility to zero and kicking up dangerously high winds.

The wall of dust boasted sustained winds of around 60 miles per hour, close to hurricane force. At one point, wind gusts hit 81mph in a Phoenix suburb.

The dust wall - commonly called a haboob - is a common sight in Phoenix, but this wall was one for the record books. The cloud stretched 60 miles wide, and turned the sunny skies of Phoenix black, literally.

Long-time residents said they have never seen anything like this hit the Arizona capital.

How bad was it? Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Scott Walker said they received nearly 1,000 emergency phone calls between 5 and 7 p.m.

The above pictures tell the story best. The dust cloud engulfed everything it hit, and the clean up is likely to take weeks.

The powerful gusts knocked down power poles in parts of the East Valley, and led to outages affecting thousands of customers .

Check current weather conditions

The haboob made its way to the Valley from Casa Grande, where viewers first spotted the huge dust wall encroaching on neighborhoods during the 6pm hour.

ABC15 viewers across the Valley also saw the dust storm moving towards their areas and creating blackout-like conditions.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_...

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  News & Politics

[Agan yodz]

at 1:18 what was that light in the air? i've seen other video of this dust storm and saw a two lights, one was moving up and this one is still.. just watch this watch?v=ZvzFNOt9sYU&NR=1

[TheFreedom2resist]

It's just another airplane. Due to the angle it looks like it isn't moving. I watched the other video, but it's so blurry you can only make out 2 blobs. No threat of an alien invasion this week :)

[oiyabastard]

oh now the p,c word for dust storm is (haboob) , ?? well guess what? i saw a DUST SORM from SQUAW PEAK!!

[TheFreedom2resist]

How messed up is that.... dust storms now have a PC word originating from places our countries are currently bombing under false pretenses. It's 'cool' to use their language as the elites try to wipe them off the planet *sigh* Love your comment... I'm going to start referring to myself as a honkey just to irritate the politically correct crowd lol

[Ley De]

I want to hear some one yell run a haboob is coming;)

[MirraMirra]

The blonde news anchor has ample haboob...

[TheNaz52]

holy shit

[mayimbin]

car wash owner must love HABOOBS

[indyfan22k]

the Haboobs would make a good sports team name :-)

[Aileen Martinez]

I've lived in Phoenix, AZ, and I had never had anything of this nature happen. I thought it was interesting at first, but then it got annoying because we couldn't drive out at night thanks to the ''haboob''. :] haha

[Nathan Boettcher]

This was so awesome! However it wasn't very scary is was just cool because no natural disaster things ever happen here so it was awesome!

[Agan yodz]

thanks