“Blowing dust and dust storms have existed in Arizona for centuries. The dry climate, natural desert surface and abundance of arid soils provide the foundation for wind-blown dust. Blowing dust creates many impacts on society. These impacts include negative health effects, such as valley fever, increased particulate matter levels leading to poor air quality, and the highly publicized automobile accidents which have led to many fatalities. Based on statistics from 1955 through 2013, blowing dust is ranked as the 3rd deadliest weather phenomenon in Arizona after flooding and extreme heat and cold.”
The quote above is the introduction from a new report by National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) published this past July. You can read the entire report here. (Note that the many graphics and tables occur at the end of the 94-page report after the Reference section.)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/media/wrh/online_publications/TMs/TM-290.pdf
NOAA recognizes two types of dust phenomena. The first is the Haboob, a wall of dust miles wide and several thousand feet high. Haboobs develop in the gust front of thunderstorms that occur frequently with the summer monsoon.
The second type is much more localized and occurs when large scale weather systems produce gusty winds, mainly in the fall, winter and spring with dust becoming airborne by more single point sources such as degraded desert, abandoned farmland and dirt roads.
“The total number of events from 1955 to 2011 is 1,521 of which 157 fatalities and 1,324 injuries are recorded. The seasonal distribution shows a peak in April and in July, with a time peak between 5 PM and 6 PM MST. The peak in March is associated with the increased frequency of Pacific storm systems passing through the region. The July peak is related to the summer thunderstorms with the diurnal peak closely linked to the timing of thunderstorms across the state.”
The report discusses impacts of blowing dust and various warning systems. NOAA claims: “NWS offices use a wide array of sources from remote sensing including radar and satellite to ground truth observations including weather spotters, law enforcement, media and the public to help detect the presence of dust. Using these tools together gives the NWS a fairly representative picture of the significance of the dust event. On the warning side, technology has evolved considerably over the last decade to allow for wider dissemination of life saving dust storm warning information through systems such as Wireless Emergency Alerts.”
The report is silent on preventing dangerous blowing dust events. That subject has been covered in several news stories:
- Arizona uses Gorilla-Snot to suppress I-10 dust
- Arizona Spending $300,000 To Combat Dangerous Blowing Dust On I-10
NOAA’s advice to motorists is “Pull Aside Stay Alive.”
Note to readers:
- Index with links to all my ADI articles: http://wp.me/P3SUNp-1pi
- My comprehensive 28-page essay on climate change: http://wp.me/P3SUNp-1bq