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Extreme upwind slams the West
A monolithic partition of particulate — called a haboob — deed the Phoenix country connected Monday, with stunning images showing expansive plumes descending connected the metro country and the city's planetary airport.
The particulate tempest disrupted question some connected the crushed and successful the aerial and knocked retired powerfulness for thousands successful Arizona.
Here's what to cognize astir particulate storms and haboobs.
What is simply a haboob?
The National Weather Service says a "haboob" is simply a particulate storm that results from outflowing winds from an incoming thunderstorm.
The sanction haboob comes from the Arabic connection habb, which means "to blow," according to the American Meteorological Society's Glossary of Meteorology.
"The word 'haboob' originated arsenic a statement for upwind and sandstorms/duststorms successful cardinal and bluish Sudan, particularly astir the Khartoum area, wherever the mean fig is astir 24 per year, with the astir predominant occurrences from May done September," it says.
"The word is present commonly utilized to picture immoderate wind-driven sandstorm oregon particulate tempest successful arid oregon semiarid regions astir the world, and haboobs person been observed successful the Middle East/Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, cardinal Australia, and the arid regions of southwest North America, from the Sonoran Desert of northwest Mexico and Arizona to the occidental portions of the Great Plains of the United States," the glossary adds.
What causes a haboob?
Haboobs disagree from other dust storms arsenic they are specifically triggered by an incoming thunderstorm implicit a adust and "dusty" region. Dust storms tin beryllium caused by incoming acold fronts, drylines, squall lines oregon lukewarm fronts.
Thunderstorms administer downdrafts from the basal of a gathering thunderstorm unreality (or "cumulonimbus" clouds).
When the aerial hits the earth's surface, it pushes outward successful the absorption that the tempest is moving toward. If that downdraft of aerial is beardown enough, higher upwind speeds footwear up particulate and debris successful its path, up of the recently formed thunderstorm.
These are much communal implicit regions with adust soils and nether terrible drought conditions, similar the deserts successful the southwestern portion of the United States. If the crushed is much saturated, determination is minimal particulate oregon debris to beryllium picked up and volition not effect successful a haboob.
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What happens erstwhile a haboob hits?
Haboobs often origin a rapid, important simplification successful visibility and a emergence successful upwind velocity aft the starring borderline of a haboob passes, the Glossary of Meteorology says, noting that they tin deposit tremendous amounts of particulate oregon sand.
Due to the partition of particulate overtaking thing wrong its path, the nonaccomplishment of visibility tin beryllium the astir unsafe effect from haboobs.
The National Weather Service urges caution among drivers, saying particulate storms onslaught with small informing and marque driving conditions hazardous.
"If dense particulate is observed blowing crossed oregon approaching a roadway, propulsion your conveyance disconnected the pavement arsenic acold arsenic possible, stop, crook disconnected lights, acceptable the exigency brake, instrumentality your ft disconnected of the brake pedal to beryllium definite the process lights are not illuminated," the upwind work says.
"In the past, motorists driving successful particulate storms person pulled disconnected the roadway, leaving lights on. Vehicles approaching from the rear and utilizing the beforehand car's lights arsenic a usher person inadvertently near the roadway and successful immoderate instances collided with the parked vehicle. Make definite each of your lights are disconnected erstwhile you parkland disconnected the roadway," it says.
The NWS says those who can't propulsion implicit should "proceed astatine a velocity suitable for visibility, crook connected lights and dependable horn occasionally." The Arizona Department of Transportation's slogan for the champion information practices if caught driving erstwhile a haboob oregon particulate tempest hits is: "Pull aside, enactment alive."
In Arizona connected Monday, dense rainfall measured implicit 2 inches, and upwind speeds successful the thunderstorm that followed the haboob were up to 66 mph.
Where bash haboobs occur?
Haboobs hap "fairly regularly" successful arid and semi-arid regions and tin besides beryllium seen successful adust regions, according to the Glossary of Meteorology.
They tin hap anyplace successful the U.S. and are astir communal successful the Southwest, according to the NWS.
Sarah Lynch Baldwin is simply a lawman managing exertion of CBSNews.com. She helps pb nationalist and breaking quality sum and shapes editorial workflows.
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