Dust Storm — Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

2016-08-21 · Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

Event narrative

Thunderstorms developed over portions of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area during the afternoon hours on August 21st and some of them produced gusty outflow winds reaching 40 mph in strength. The gusty winds stirred up large amounts of dust and created areas of dust storm conditions where visibility fell below one quarter of a mile. Some of the most significant blowing dust occurred over the southeast portion of the greater Phoenix area. At 1720MST a trained weather spotter 3 miles southwest of Guadalupe reported visibility less than one eighth of a mile in a dust storm. Shortly afterwards another spotter 1 mile east of Tempe reported visibility less than one quarter of a mile in dense blowing dust. A Dust Storm Warning was issued for the area beginning at 1704MST and it remained in effect until shortly before 1900MST. Although the dense blowing dust created very hazardous driving conditions, no reports of accidents were received as a result of the blowing dust.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed across portions of south central Arizona, including the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, during the afternoon hours on August 21st and some of the storms produced gusty outflow winds greater than 40 mph. As has often been the case during the summer, these outflow winds were sufficient to stir up large amounts of dust and create dust storm conditions where visibility falls below one quarter of a mile. Some of the most significant dense blowing dust occurred over the central and southeast portion of the greater Phoenix area as well as portions of northern Pinal county including Casa Grande and Coolidge and the Interstate 10 corridor. Although the dust storms created very hazardous driving conditions, no significant accidents or injuries were reported due to the sharply reduced visibility.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 647783. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.