Dust Storm — Northwest Pinal County, Arizona

2023-07-26 · Northwest Pinal County, Arizona

Event narrative

Visibility of 1/4 mile or less reported in Arizona City due to dense blowing dust from thunderstorm outflow winds. No accidents or injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

With the subtropical high pressure situated across central New Mexico, a southeasterly wind flow was established across Arizona. Thunderstorm activity developed across portions of southeast AZ during the afternoon hours. MLCAPE between 500-1000 J/KG as well as Downdraft CAPE near 2000 J/KG aided in creating a favorable environment for the thunderstorm activity to result in strong downburst winds. The first thunderstorm activity to develop across portions of southeast AZ resulted in the development of a strong outflow boundary, responsible for dense blowing dust conditions across Pinal and southern Maricopa Counties as well as sparking additional storms that affected portions of the Phoenix metro area. With the thunderstorms that moved across the Phoenix metro area, there were several reports of tree damage as well as structural damage to several homes.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1120677. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.