Haboobs of Our Discontent (in Phoenix)

Deborah in Phoenix writes of Sunday's weather:

We got hit with something fierce last night, wall of dust, high winds--the yard is a mess with all kinds of leaf trash!!--and some ominous clouds. But if anyone got rain we did not. But that was some weird wind--almost tornado like.

Interesting! Here's what the National Weather Service, Phoenix logged for July 17th: 41 mph winds, with 51 mph gusts:

WIND (MPH)
HIGHEST WIND SPEED 41
HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION NW (310)
HIGHEST GUST SPEED 51
HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION NW (310)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 11.4

These kind of storms (called 'haboobs' in Arabic) are typically downbursts from thunderstorms, and can travel for miles from the storms that generate them. I remember once watching several of these walls of dust, each travelling in a different direction on the surrounding flat lands, from the top of southeast Arizona's Mt. Graham.

My childhood rock collection was once upended by one of these storms, near Albuquerque, around 1966. In 1988, when I told my freshman meteorology class at University of Arizona my poignant childhood anguish, several students were thoughtful enough to commisserate with my pain (no doubt because they thought it might help their grade).

I remember one of these nasty storms in Phoenix around August 1, 1988. It was a cruel, taunting storm, because the monsoon was late in starting that year, and there was no soothing rain afterwards.

Here is a story I've submitted to B3ta, the British juvenile humor web site, in answer to their 'Question of the Week': "Tell us your weddings stories," regarding a 1982 Phoenix haboob I experienced at the Arizona Biltmore Resort (it's not a terribly interesting story by their standards, though, so no prize this week):

The Arabs Call These Dust Storms 'Haboobs'
June weddings in the desert heat of Phoenix, Arizona are a menace. We were able to escape the 116 F (47 C) heat inside the fancy resort, but the service was interrupted by dozens of squealing intruders when an approaching dust storm thrashed several simultaneous outdoor weddings, ruining hair and kicking grit into people's eyes, teeth, and any number of wedding cakes. Made a hella big joint reception afterwards, though!

And I guess it's HOT now in Phoenix too! It's sure hot here, but it's lots worse in Phoenix, I'm sure. People are dying in Phoenix, travellers are miserable at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas (power failure there), and Death Valley is truly dangerous.

National Weather Service, Phoenix says the record high minimum of 93 degrees was tied at Phoenix on July 17th (reached before in 2003), and tied on July 16th (91 degrees, also in 2003). I always found high minimums this high are difficult to endure. Todays maximum temperature of 116 degrees exceeds the previous record for the date (114 degrees), set in 1936.

Hurricane Emily's moisture will be entering central Mexico shortly. By Friday, there should be ample moisture, derived from the storm and available throughout the SW, for actual (can you believe it?) RAIN. Plus lots more haboobs too. It should be interesting to see what the weekend is like.