Dust Storm — Southwest Deserts, Arizona

2015-08-06 · Southwest Deserts, Arizona

Event narrative

Thunderstorms developed across portions of southwest Arizona and southeast California during the afternoon hours on August 6th, and they produced gusty outflow winds in excess of 40 mph. The winds moved into Yuma County and by 1630MST they had produced areas of blowing dust and sand. According to a trained weather spotter 2 miles southwest of Tacna, at 1640MST visibility dropped below one quarter mile in a dust storm. He estimated wind gusts to 40 mph. A Dust Storm Warning was not issued due to the isolated nature of the very low visibilities, but at 1731MST a Blowing Dust Advisory was issued for Yuma county and it remained in effect through 1900MST.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed across portions of southwest Arizona and southeast California during the afternoon hours on August 6th, and they developed strong and gusty outflow winds in excess of 40 mph. The gusty outflow winds eventually moved into Yuma county and stirred up locally dense blowing sand and dust which resulted in the issuance of Blowing Dust Advisories for the area. Although Dust Storm Warnings were not issued for southwest Arizona, weather spotters near Tacna reported visibilities below one quarter of a mile in the dense blowing dust. No accidents or injuries were reported due to the blowing dust.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 588676. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.