Headline
Haboob, Sandstorm, Dirt Storm? The Answer’s Blowing in the Texas Wind
United States
Intense thunderstorms located north of Lubbock at 6:15 pm CDT Sunday, May 29, 2016, pushed an outflow boundary (the faint line south of the storms) and associated haboob (not visible on radar image) toward the Lubbock area. Image: NWS, Lubbock
The temperature at the Lubbock NWS office dropped from 82°F at 7:03 pm CDT to 64°F at 7:10 pm CDT, with winds gusting to 56 mph and visibility down to 0.5 mile in rain and blowing dust.
Haboobs are distinct from ordinary blowing dust because of the thick dust shoveled upward—sometimes more than half a mile—by the relatively cool, dense air at the leading edge
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What’s kicked up the haboob storm?
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For one thing, intense, recurring drought over the last few years, coupled with record-warm, landscape-drying temperatures, could be making the region more prone to haboob formation at times, although this would be a difficult thing to quantify.
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