Dust Storm — Southwest Deserts, Arizona

2017-09-07 · Southwest Deserts, Arizona

Event narrative

Scattered thunderstorms developed over the east-central portion of Yuma County during the early evening hours, and developed towards the west, affecting the Interstate 8 corridor to the east of the town of Wellton. The storms produced gusty outflow winds in excess of 40 mph which stirred up significant amounts of dust and dirt resulting in dust storm conditions. At 1853MST a trained spotter located 3 miles to the northeast of Tacna reported a dust storm, with visibility lowered to less than one quarter of a mile. A Dust Storm Warning was issued for the Interstate 8 corridor starting at about 1900MST and remained in effect through 2000MST. Although the dense blowing dust presented very dangerous driving conditions for motorists on the interstate, no accidents were reported as a result of the sharply reduced visibility.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms developed over the southwestern and western deserts of Arizona during the late afternoon and evening hours on September 7th. They affected both Yuma and La Paz Counties as they brought strong and gusty winds to the area along with patchy dense blowing dust. Automated weather stations in far western Yuma County, just east of the lower Colorado River Valley, measured gusts as high as 64 mph. Shortly after 1700MST another mesonet weather station west of the Kofa Mountains measured a gust to 66 mph. No damage was reported due to the strong winds. Finally, at about 1900MST a trained spotter just northeast of Tacna reported dense blowing dust that reduced visibility below one quarter of a mile in a dust storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 714578. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.