Dust Storm — Salton Sea, California

2022-10-06 · Salton Sea, California

Event narrative

An Imperial Irrigation District Webcam showed visibility of less than 1/4 mile along southern portions of the Salton Sea due to blowing dust.

Wider weather episode

A slow moving cutoff low was situated over southern Arizona, providing forced ascent. The low pressure resulted in very cold mid-level temperatures of -13C to -14C, which helped increase the instability with moderate to high levels observed (MLCAPE of 1000-2000 J/KG). High levels of moisture were also observed with PWAT ranging between 1-1.4, which is near record values for early October. The combination of all of these factors led to the development of strong to severe thunderstorms, developing initially across far southwestern Arizona during the early afternoon hours and then moving westward into Imperial County as the afternoon progressed. A well-organized outflow boundary surged well ahead of the thunderstorm complex, resulting in dense blowing dust, which traversed westward across the Imperial Valley and into the Salton Sea area. The blowing dust activity reached as far north as Joshua Tree National Park. Thunderstorms that moved into Imperial County resulted in areas of Flash Flooding along Ogilby Road.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1060443. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.