Dust Storm — Northwest Pinal County, Arizona

2024-05-20 · Northwest Pinal County, Arizona

Event narrative

Near zero visibility in blowing dust on I-10 in Casa Grande. There was also a traffic accident during the dust storm with one person transported to the hospital.

Wider weather episode

An upper-level trough pulling anomalously high moisture content into the region resulted a line of high based shower activity across south-central AZ. Strong evaporational cooling from these showers resulted in strong winds and consequently blowing dust issues, with the most significant issue near Casa Grande, AZ where visibilities near zero were observed along I-10. A vehicular crash from the dust storm was observed along the interstate, resulting in an injury.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1176306. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.