Dust Storm — Imperial County Except the Lower Colorado River Valley, California

2016-08-19 · Imperial County Except the Lower Colorado River Valley, California

Event narrative

Thunderstorms developed across portions of Imperial County during the late afternoon hours on August 19th and the stronger storms generated gusty outflow winds in excess of 40 mph. The strong wind created dense blowing dust that primarily impacted the Imperial Valley; visibility fell as low as zero miles in a dust storm. At about 1700PST a trained spotter 1 mile northwest of Seeley reported zero visibility in a dust storm and he indicated that the dense dust was spreading towards the town of El Centro. Shortly afterward, a storm chaser 1 mile northwest of Imperial reported a dust storm with a visibility below one eighth of a mile. Similar conditions were reported by another trained spotter 3 miles east of Alamoria at 1724PST. No accidents were reported due to the dust storm. Initially, a Blowing Dust Advisory was issued due to the dense blowing dust, but it was quickly ugraded to a Dust Storm Warning at 1728PST.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed across portions of Imperial county during the late afternoon hours on August 19th and the stronger storms generated gusty outflow winds in excess of 40 mph. The gusty winds picked up large amounts of dust and sand and generated a dust storm that primarily affected the Imperial Valley, including communities such as Seeley and Imperial. Multiple trained spotters as well as a storm chaser reported visibility falling as low as zero miles in the dust storm. Fortunately there were no accidents or injuries as a result of the sharply lowered visibility. The near zero visibility created very hazardous driving conditions for motorists at the tail end of the evening rush hour in the Imperial Valley.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 647599. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.