Dust In The Wind

This is a great video I found on YouTube of a dust storm that blew through Phoenix on Tuesday night.   The storm brought wind gusts at Phoenix's airport to 52 mph, with gusts in other areas in Arizona that may have been higher.  Dust storms in the Southwest deserts are not uncommon in July as monsoon winds develop.   Monsoons are seasonal wind patterns, with the July monsoon in Arizona bringing in Pacific and sometimes Gulf of Mexico moisture as the upper level and surface wind trajectory shifts to the southeast and south as Arizona typically sets up on the western side of upper level high pressure that parks over the Southeastern US.   Those monsoon winds bring moisture, increased thunderstorms, and in turn those thunderstorms can bring locally gusty winds that can whip up desert soils that have not received rain in several months.   However, the National Weather Service did note that this was one of the strongest dust storms in recent memory in the Phoenix area.  

Read more of their account...and some cool radar snapshots from the new "Dual-Pol" radar system that showed the dust storm on its approach into the Valley of The Sun.