A towering wall of dust, known meteorologically as a haboob, swallowed parts of metro Phoenix Monday evening, plunging the city into near-zero visibility.
The dust storm was quickly followed by severe thunderstorms that tore through the city, leaving behind downed trees, wind damage and widespread power outages. At Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, a connector bridge was shredded by 70 mph wind gusts.
The National Weather Service in Phoenix issued both dust storm and severe thunderstorm warnings as the system pushed into Maricopa County Monday evening. The weather service warned drivers of dangerously low visibility and urged people to “pull aside stay alive.”
The Arizona Department of Transportation echoed that warning, saying there was significantly reduced visibility on I-10 and I-17 due to the dust storm and flooding on roadways, urging drivers to proceed with caution.
A giant dust storm approaches the Phoenix metro area as a monsoon storm pushes the dust into the air Monday. Ross D. Franklin/AP
After the storms swept through, more than 60,000 customers in Arizona were left without power, with the majority of outages concentrated in Maricopa County, according to PowerOutage.us.
For about an hour, the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport had a ground stop preventing any planes from leaving or landing as a cloud of dust seemed ready to swallow up the facility. The airport was experiencing up to 30 minute delays late Monday night while crews assessed any damage or roof leaks, airport spokesperson Gregory E. Roybal said.
Wall of dust at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix Monday. City of Phoenix
In Gilbert, Arizona – about 22 miles southeast of Phoenix – there are “traffic light outages and downed trees across town,” police said, urging residents to avoid travel due to dangerous conditions.
Dust storms are nothing new in Arizona’s monsoon season, but this storm packed extra punch. A thunderstorm collapsed, and its winds blasted outward, scooping up desert soil and building it into a rolling wall of dust. These walls can climb thousands of feet high and stretch for miles, cutting off the horizon in seconds, similar to a blizzard in winter.
