Every year, I eagerly await the arrival of monsoon season. I can't wait for that first bucket dumping rain and lightning show. The part I don't particularly care for is the haboob. Yes, haboob is really a word. This whopper of an haboob hit us last night around 7:20 p.m. and went on forever. Power went off and on twice, and we're now cleaning up the mess.
We have a mountain to the south of us, so we saw it early on engulfing the San Tans and had time to get inside and take cover. Contrary to some of the news reports I've seen this morning that say it's the first desert sand/dirtstorm to hit the U.S. since the dirty 30's, haboobs are common to the Phoenix area and we get hit by them frequently every summer, but they're usually not this large! Locals say this was epic -- the biggest in a decade.There's a thick layer of dirt on everything outside and the pool is a mess, so we'll definitely be spending the day outdoors cleaning.
Here are a few photos I snapped as the thing rolled in last night.
11 comments:
Hi!
I am up in the Desert Hills area and boy oh boy you nailed it on your description of the haboob last night (7/5/11).
Was up (or over or down, depending on where in the valley you are :) ) at Narcissus (in The Quarter) when it hit I looked outside and thought it was rain again (ala the Sunday night drenching in North Scottsdale). Of course, it was not - just all of the dirt driving sideways. Aftr lingering over another cup of Earl Gray - no need to hurry out into that mess - and it had passed through I went to the my car. I had just washed it in the AM, yes, I know, it is a risk in the monsoon season, but a guy has to do what a guy has to do :) Anyway, I have never seen such a sight in AZ - there was a goo0d 1/2 inch of dust sitting on the car! To top it off there was just enough rain to create little mud pubbles on the rag top - ugh!
Won't go into the mess I had a home - power off for 3 hours, dogs in a tizzy because the house alarm was giving it's adorable little "reset me" sound (really, a high pitched whine that must have been what set the poor pups off :( ) and, of course .... the pool and patio. I don't know how long it will take me to clean it all up. I have been working on the pool for 3 hours now and it is still as cloudy as it was when I started. Yesterday it was crystal clear :-(
Thank you for the video and pictures and good luck with YOUR clean up :-)
Just finished 3 hours of hosing off patios, outdoor furniture, and plants. I'm guessing the pool will not be swimmable for a couple of days. We have an in-floor cleaning system, so we repeatedly sweep the dirt on the floor toward the drains at the end of the pool. I threw in shock, but not sure if that will do anything! I rode my bike for 3 miles this morning, but decided to quit because each time a car passed, it kicked up clouds of dirt from the street. Cough cough! Good luck with your cleanup!
YIKES!!! How could you even BREATHE???
Linda, when we see one headed this way, we get in the house. Those last few photos were taken from inside. Even then, I get bad headaches with the haboobs. I've got one today because all that dirt is in the air. The skies aren't blue today -- they're a dirty haze. I need to get busy vacuuming dust on the inside.
What's the plural of "haboob" ?
News reports there's another on the way.
drgeo, there's always another on the way, we just don't know when! HA! Last night's was the third one in four days, but the others weren't whoppers. Maybe the plural is habeeb? : ) The focus of the news tonight is the backup lines at car washes. I guess people don't remember how to use a hose and bucket at home.
Wow, incredible pictures. Dust storms were the reason my folks decided to move to Oregon in 1957. They lived through the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and were sick and tired of it.
watch for Algae bloom. The storm was full of airborne fertilizer from the crops and manure from the live stock.
Kay, the dirty 30's was awful in Western Kansas. My grandparents moved to Southeast Kansas to escape the flat barren landscape. Oregon's a beautiful state, so it was a wise choice!
Thanks Chrissy. I gave the pool a healthy dose of shock this morning and we've been working it all day, brushing the dirt to the floor drains and running the pump 24/7. I actually got in it tonight because it looks good to go. That was a haboob for the record books! Now if we'd just get some rain!
WOW!!! Frank and I have been talking about your haboob since you first mention it on FB. BTW he wants us to have another child and call him (or her) Hoboob. I was thinking about the mess and the pool. YUK!
Jeanie, it's all good now. Craig has the filters out today cleaning them, but the pool looks good. The air quality is still worse than normal. We need a huge rain to knock down the dust.
Post a Comment