Dust Storm — Gila River Valley, Arizona

2019-09-04 · Gila River Valley, Arizona

Event narrative

Isolated monsoon thunderstorms developed across the central portions of Yuma County including the Interstate 8 corridor during the evening hours on September 4th. One of the stronger storms produced gusty outflow winds in excess of 50 mph that stirred up significant amounts of dust and created dust storm conditions around the town of Tacna. According to a storm chaser in Tacna, at 1820MST visibility dropped to about 500 feet in a dust storm. A Dust Storm Warning had been issued earlier and was in effect at the time of the report. No accidents were reported as a result of the sharply restricted visibilities.

Wider weather episode

Isolated monsoon thunderstorms developed across the central portions of Yuma County and along Interstate 8 during the evening hours on September 4th. The stronger storms managed to generate gusty and damaging outflow winds, estimated to be greater than 50 mph. In addition to causing episodes of wind damage, the outflow winds stirred up dust and sand which resulted in a dust storm along Interstate 8, near the town of Tacna. Visibility was lowered to just 500 feet in the dust storm. The strong outflow winds also caused a semi trailer truck to overturn at the Mohawk east bound rest area as reported by the Yuma County Dispatch. There were no reports of injuries due to the strong winds.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 849192. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.