The haboobs are giant walls of dust created from high winds rushing out of a collapsing thunderstorm. The name comes from the Arabic habb, meaning 'wind' or 'to blow'.
Cold air in front of the storm rushes down at an incredible rate, picking up massive amounts of dust and sand and blowing them into the air.
As the dust storm builds, it can completely block out the sun, making it nearly impossible to see just a few feet in front of you.
A haboob storm-front may transport and deposit large quantities of sand or dust material, which move as an extremely dense wall that can reach a height of 1000 metres (about 3,000 feet). Haboobs occur regularly in arid regions throughout the world.
Reference:
https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wind/Haboob.htm
#naturalphenomena #haboob #sandstorm
Between haboobs, simooms, and sciroccos, they have the best names for dust storms.
ReplyDeleteNutrients from the dust and sand in these storms have been known to travel from Africa to the Amazon
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