Dust Storm — Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

2015-08-11 · Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

Event narrative

A second round of thunderstorms developed across south central Arizona during the evening hours on August 11th, and the stronger storms produced strong gusty winds in excess of 50 mph at times. The strong winds stirred up significant amounts of dust and led to dust storm conditions; multiple trained weather spotters in the greater Phoenix area reported dust storm conditions with visibilities at or below one half of a mile. Additionally, there were automatic weather stations in the area that reported similarly low visibilities due to blowing dust. For example, at 2105MST the official AWOS weather station at the Phoenix Mesa-Gateway airport reported one eighth of a mile visibility in blowing dust. A Dust Storm Warning was issued for the greater Phoenix area at 2115MST and it continued through 2300MST.

Wider weather episode

A second round of thunderstorms with strong gusty winds affected south central Arizona during the evening hours on August 11th. The stronger storms generated gusty outflow wind in in excess of 50 mph, and the strong winds picked up significant amounts of dust, leading to dust storm conditions. Multiple trained spotters as well as automatic weather stations reported visibilities dropping to one quarter of a mile or lower in dense blowing dust. These dust storms primarily affected the greater Phoenix area. No serious accidents or injuries were reported due to the dense blowing dust.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 589010. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.