Rare Weather Phenomena

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I am an old guy and I have lived through many different types of weather phenomena. One of the rarest types I experienced I would describe it as a "mud storm". It occurred when a dust storm collided with a rain storm. When the storm was over, there was about an eight of an inch of mud on everything, on plants, trees, grass, the windows of cars, etc.

The reason why it came to mind was because today or tomorrow it may happen again. They are predicting rain today and at the same time there is a massive dust storm from the Sahara Desert in Africa that is projected to pass through our area.

In consulting Wikipedia, they call this weather phenomena by the word Haboob.

During thunderstorm formation, winds move in a direction opposite to the storm's travel, and they move from all directions into the thunderstorm. When the storm collapses and begins to release precipitation, wind directions reverse, gusting outward from the storm and generally gusting the strongest in the direction of the storm's travel.

When this downdraft of cold air, or downburst, reaches the ground, it blows dry, loose silt and clay (collectively, dust) up from the desert, creating a wall of sediment that precedes the storm cloud. This wall of dust can be up to 100 km (62 mi) wide and several kilometers in elevation. At their strongest, haboob winds often travel at 35–100 km/h (22–62 mph), and they may approach with little or no warning. Often rain does not appear at ground level as it evaporates in the hot, dry air (a phenomenon known as virga). The evaporation cools the rushing air even further and accelerates it. Occasionally, when the rain does persist, it can contain a considerable quantity of dust. Severe cases are called mud storms. Eye and respiratory system protection is advisable for anyone who must be outside during a haboob. Moving to shelter is highly advised during a strong event.

In North America, this is a local or mesoscale event, and at times of extreme drought they can originate in agricultural regions.
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So if that definition holds true, because I live in the Midwest and we are not under drought conditions, I guess I will not see a reoccurrence of a mud storm today.

It rained mud on my car before.It was absolutely filthy.
We are supposedly going to have amazing sunsets with the dust particulates in the air but it’s cloudy and hazy today.I have no idea how of much of the haze is dust.

t least it should be super easy to wash mud off a car as opposed to other grime and oily sediments.

Fun to wash cars on a warm summer's day!

I live on a dirt road so the vehicle
is always dirty in the summer and muddy in the winter.I clean the windows when gassing up so I can see to drive.Sometimes it’s covered in pollen so it’s yellow,or tree sap,it’s the worst,mold grows on it and it’s hard to get off.

double post

Last edited by Misslizard on 27 Jun 2020, 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm sure the mould must be difficult to clean off. Perhaps the dirt gives the vehicle character - certain vehicles such as pickup trucks look like good rural workhorses when dirty!

Then I suppose the birds also take turns in decorating it from time to time.

Oops - we've strayed a bit from the weather - sorry Jimmy!

Don’t park under the wild cherry tree or the birds poop purple.

Purple's a pretty colour though! The colour of Royalty!

Hows a dust storm from Africa making it to Indiana?

Very easily.

An east wind, especially if the jet stream is strong, sends sand particles from the Sahara thousands of miles to the west. This has happened many times before. It’s not an unusual occurrence at all.

It’s so hazy here it looks like there’s a wildfire.

I'm going to change the subject a little bit. But it has some similarities. Almost a half century ago, I was driving in the desert in California. I was on a major road traveling around 65 miles an hour which was the speed limit at the time. There were dozens of cars in front of me and dozens right behind me all going at that speed. bumper to bumper. Then something happened. There was a slight dip in the roadway and as I drove into it, instantly my windshield was covered in mud. I couldn't see a thing. I kept driving, turned on the windshield wiper. I didn't slow down even though I couldn't see. The wiper blades streaked the window, but it remained muddy. Still couldn't see a thing. I believe this occurred before they invented windshield washers. I kept going for about a minute. [but my perception of time may have been distorted]. I quickly opened my window so I could get my bearings. Eventually I pulled off the road and cleaned off the front window.

If anyone had slowed down or come to a complete stop, we would all have been toast. A massive pile-up. But everyone kept their cool and we all survived.

When this event happened the sky was clear and sunny. But somewhere out in the desert, a major rainstorm hit and created a river of mud as flash flood traveled down the dry riverbeds. So I had without any warning driven through a river of mud.

This is one of the scariest things that I ever did.

We have dust storms in Australia that converge with rain cells creating similar mud storms.

Never heard of this, do you have links to scientific studies?

Just Google “Sahara sand in the US.” I’m sure you will find studies.

We get sand from the Sahara very frequently. Plus, we have deserts of our own.

I know that Sahara sand regularly blows west onto the Canaries (brother in law lives there and complains about it frequently), and that’s were Columbus set sail west from due to the prevailing winds.

Don’t know of any studies, but it’s credible.