Dust Storm — Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

2016-08-24 · Greater Phoenix Area, Arizona

Event narrative

Evening thunderstorms on August 24th produced gusty outflow winds as high as 40 mph which impacted portions of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, especially dust-prone areas to the southeast of central Phoenix. The gusty winds stirred up dense blowing dust resulting in dust storm conditions across portions of Sun Lakes. At 1848MST a trained weather spotter located 7 miles west of Sun Lakes reported a dust storm where visibility fell to less than 100 feet on Highway 347 to the south of West Riggs Road. The dense blowing dust created very hazardous driving conditions for the tail end of the evening rush hour. No accidents were reported due to the blowing dust. A Dust Storm Warning was not issued for the area likely because of the isolated nature of the dust storm conditions.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed during the evening hours across portions of the south central deserts on August 24th, and some of them affected areas to the southeast of central Phoenix including communities such as Sun Lakes and Queen Creek. Some of the storms produced gusty outflow winds as high as 40 mph which stirred up areas of blowing dust and lowered visibility to one quarter of a mile or lower in favored dust-prone areas. A modest dust storm resulted as reported by a couple trained weather spotters. The dust storm resulted in locally hazardous driving conditions during the tail end of the rush hour. No accidents were reported as a result of the dense blowing dust.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 647937. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.