Haboob Encore

As we were driving back to Phoenix from Vegas yesterday evening, we saw the giant brown clouds engulfing the Phoenix valley in front of us as we descended the ridge heading SE on US60 out of Wickenberg.  Some of the clouds were dark brown, and looked like a rolling fog, 20,000 feet high, advancing closer to the ground and roiled back the higher into the air it got.  (for a better video, see the link, here).  I would have taken the picture of the advancing dark clouds, but I was busy piloting the C70 near to & above the limits of the H rated Michelin tires on which we were driving, so Dr Desert Flower took the image above.

When the clouds in front of you are brown, and advancing closer to the ground, it gives you a feeling of foreboding to drive into it.  Sure, if I was in a 1975 Plymouth Valiant with 200K miles on it that had survived dozens of Midwest Winters, I would have appreciated the up-coming sand blasting, but piloting a Volvo C70 convertible with less than 8,000 miles on it, and a shiny finished paint job, we just hoped the sand blasting would be brief and NOT be followed by hail.  Luckily, we ran into just rain, and no direct blasting.

This was the second Haboob (Arabic هبوب) to hit the Phoenix area this summer, and only the 4th since we moved here 4 years ago.  Climate change? Naw, there ain't none of that happening!