GregAllen says:

My sinuses started closing up just watching that clip.

I’d seen dust storm like that on the Arabian peninsula. If you leave a window open, even a crack, you literally get sand drifts in your house.

sargasso_c says:

I recall a population health study which correlated increased cancer in arid urban areas that are subject to regular dust storms. Must find that.

Skeptic says:

If they sprayed the desert with oil, that wouldn’t happen.

Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

It’s a dry dust.

B. Dog says:

Nice video. If I had a truckload of air filters, I know where I’d sell them — Phoenix.

admfubar says:

#7 an indoor garage? as opposed to an outdoor one?
i’ll take living in the great lakes region over other parts of the country. we have so little extreme weather or natural disasters. and we have 1/5 of the worlds fresh waters supply… >:D

Floyd says:

Admfubar:

I used to live in Michigan City IN.

Weatherwise, you’re forgetting about things like the Great Lakes in the winter (The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald), various other maritime disasters, and the admittedly rare waterspout or small tornado.

There is the three week period in southern Lake Michigan when the lake is actually warm enough (I’ll guess 40 degrees F) for people to briefly go swimming in the lake.

I can also tell you about briefly (that word again) swimming in Lake Superior during a backpacking trip to Isle Royale. Beautiful trip, but Superior is even colder than the rest of the Great Lakes.

Floyd says:

Olo, I can remember days like you’re describing. Still, there are lots of lakes in that area, and a lot of Chicagoans on the weekends.

The only things I really miss about that area are Red Haven peaches, and beers at Redamak’s. A hobbit would like Redamak’s…

UncDon says:

“Opposite” SF story would be great. Dust storm comes, and when it settles, a complete city has been deposited.

theyreallgunalaughatyou says:

I was in the middle of the dust storm living/driving. Been here in Phoenix over a decade. It was a big dust storm but not a bad one. In past years I’ve been in storms so thick you can’t see tail lights one car length ahead of you, storms you can taste and the grit is in your mouth, and dust storms joined with the right amount of rain so you have messy dried mud on everything the next day. This storm was more creepy than bad. Visibility for me driving was about 700ft for structures and 1000 for lights. It was a fine dirt not sandy.

Now, the next afternoon, in my development we have a light coating on everything, one large broken tree and murky pools. No big deal.

The monsoon thunderstorms about to start are worse and they usually don’t do damage. Every spot on the globe has their weird weather. I hate cold and I don’t have to turn the heat on most years. No snow, let alone shoveling. No raking leaves. No cleaning gutters. 7-8 nice months and 4-5 with the AC on. Also, light clothes instead of layers rock, especially on the ladies. I’ll take Phoenix over the Great Lakes every day.

deowll says:

To each their own. I don’t like temperatures below 0 and I don’t like inhaling dust so I guess I stay here in TN.

bobbo, we think with words, and flower with ideas. says:

Doesn’t this mean “by definition” there is bad or no soil management going on somewhere up wind?

Just saw Michael Pollan on Great Conversations talking about how much more complex and “wonderful” organic farming is: it rebuilds and creates more soil as it goes along.

Yes, that right–indoor hydroponics is in all our futures.

GF says:

The only thing different about this storm other than those in the past is how many people were time lapse recording it this time.