Video shows ominous 'wall of dust' pushing through small Arizona town
A new ominous video shows a large wall of orange and yellow dust looming over the small Arizona town of Dolan Springs on July 24.
The stunning but chilling video, filmed by local resident Sandra Mason, shows the silent cloud of wind-blown dust and sand menacingly advancing toward the town and the home that she and her family had moved into to get some peace and quiet.
With the dust storm approaching her house, Mason shouts warnings back to her family that they all need to find their way indoors.
"I'm going to go ahead and get in because the blob is coming to get us," she said. "It's like The Mummy," she added, making reference to the blockbuster 1999 Brendan Fraser film.
We have been seeing some very low visibilities due to dust along US 93 between Kingman and the NV/AZ state line. This image is from a camera near Pierce Ferry Rd. near Dolan Springs, AZ. #azwx #nvwx pic.twitter.com/xoQicY7PLM
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) July 25, 2022
As the dust draws even closer, Mason comments that she feels a cool breeze and that the air feels like it's charged with static electricity. The coolness of the air can be explained by the fact that dust storms are fueled by outflow boundaries kicked off by thunderstorms. Outflow boundaries spread thunderstorm-cooled air across a region and can persist for hundreds of miles, often kicking up new thunderstorms.
In addition, dust storms generate static electricity when sand grains kicked up by the wind rub together, an effect that can even create an electric field which can sustain and strengthen the storms, according to the journal Science.
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In this July 21, 2012, file photo a large dust storm, or haboob, sweeps across downtown Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) |
With the dust enveloping the town, Mason's video shows that the visibility suddenly begins dropping toward zero, turning the sky a pale shade of brown. Initially calm, the winds rapidly begin to pick up, with Mason telling Storyful that the dust storm threw objects into the air.
"[It was] absolutely fascinating and terrifying," Mason said. "We moved here seven months ago for peace and quiet."
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When dust storms are expected, the National Weather Service can issue relatively rare dust storm warnings and advisories. An advisory means that dust is expected to bring visibility down to less than a mile, while a warning means that visibility will drop below a quarter of a mile, along with strong winds.
In both cases, travel is made extremely hazardous, and it can be dangerous to be outdoors.
"If caught in dense blowing dust, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep your foot off the brake," the National Weather Service wrote in a dust storm advisory for areas just south of Phoenix earlier this week.
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