Dust Storm — Central Deserts, Arizona

2016-07-29 · Central Deserts, Arizona

Event narrative

Thunderstorms developed over the central and eastern Arizona mountains during the afternoon hours on July 29th, and they moved into the central deserts during the evening hours, bringing gusty winds in excess of 50 mph. The strong wind blowing across the desert floor created a significant dust storm; there were numerous reports from the public and trained spotters of dense blowing dust with visibility at or below one quarter of a mile in dense blowing dust. One of the first reports came at 1913MST from a trained spotter 7 miles southeast of Queen Creek of a dust storm with visibility below 1/4 mile. At 1926MST a trained spotter 1 mile south of Coolidge reported visibility at 200 yards in dense blowing dust. Soon after, at 1933MST a trained spotter 1 mile northeast of Arizona City reported visibility at 50 yards in a dust storm. Finally, at 1950MST a member of the public 2 miles northwest of Santan reported visibility at zero miles in dense dust. A Dust Storm Warning was issued at 1928MST and was in effect until 2100MST.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed across the central and eastern Arizona mountains during the afternoon hours on July 29th, and they proceeded to move southwest and into the south-central deserts during the evening hours. The stronger storms produced very strong and gusty outflow winds, measured at times to be well in excess of 50 mph. The winds stirred up significant amounts of dust and dirt which led to an evening dust storm; the most significant blowing dust occurred over the central deserts however dust storm conditions were also observed over portions of the greater Phoenix area. Numerous trained weather spotters in locations such as Casa Grande, Ak-Chin and Maricopa reported visibilities to near zero visibility in dense blowing dust. Although the dense blowing dust created a serious driving hazard, there were no serious accidents or injuries reported as a result of the dust storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 645897. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.