Dust Storm — Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

2015-10-16 · Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

Event narrative

Isolated thunderstorms developed across the greater Phoenix metropolitan area during the early afternoon hours on October 16th, and the stronger storms produced gusty outflow winds in excess of 50 mph. The strong outflow winds picked up considerable amounts of dust and dirt, creating dust storm conditions which primarily affected the southern and southeast portions of the greater Phoenix area. Starting at about 1400MST, several trained spotters reported dust storm conditions. At 1400MST a trained spotter 2 miles northwest of Firebird Lake reported visibility reduced to less than 100 yards in a dust storm. At 1413MST a trained spotter 2 miles northwest of the Arizona State Fairgrounds reported heavy blowing dust and visibility below one quarter of a mile. At about the same time, another trained spotter 3 miles southwest of Beardsley reported similar dust storm conditions. Fortunately, no accidents or injuries resulted due to the sharply reduced visibilities in dense blowing dust. A Dust Storm Warning was issued for the area at 1406MST, it was cancelled at 1522MST.

Wider weather episode

Isolated thunderstorms developed across portions of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area during the early afternoon hours on October 16th. The stronger storms produced strong gusty outflow winds in excess of 50 mph which picked up significant amounts of dust and dirt and created areas of dense blowing dust. The dense blowing dust reduced visibilities below one quarter of a mile and the corresponding dust storm moved across portions of the greater Phoenix area. Several trained weather spotters reported a dust storm; fortunately no accidents or injuries resulted from the sharply reduced visibilities.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 600082. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.