West Texas and New Mexico swept by dust storm rising 1,000 feet high

Published on : Thursday, March 20, 2014

dust-stormA robust dust storm swept across West Texas and New Mexico on Tuesday rising up to 1,000 feet high and spreading across 200 miles. This wall of dust is popularly known as a haboob. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Aldrich the dust was lifted into the air ahead of a fast-moving cold front that reached Lubbock, already suffering from a lingering drought. Wind gusts on Tuesday evening reached 50 mph and it took about 30 minutes for the leading wall of dust to move from the north end of Lubbock County to its southern border. Dust hung in the air afterward for hours and the strong winds persisted. Visibility was reduced to about a mile in Lubbock. Northwest of Lubbock in Muleshoe and Friona the visibility was zero.

 

The dust storm began in Amarillo and the wall of fine soil particles extended west into New Mexico and east to near Post, about 40 miles southwest of Lubbock. The front began in Kansas, and once it reached the parched Panhandle around Amarillo, the dust began to get kicked up. It worsened as it moved south toward Lubbock.

 

 

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