What was the Great Phoenix, Arizona, Haboob?

During the evening of July 5, 2011, Phoenix, Arizona, was going to experience a historic dust storm or “haboob” (a term popularized after this incredible event). The stage was set for significant blowing dust over the Sonoran Desert. The arid landscape was already parched under intense summer heat, while the North American Monsoon, serving as a catalyst for local thunderstorms, was just getting underway.

By early afternoon of July 5, 2011, strong thunderstorms began developing between the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. Within a few hours, widespread and powerful thunderstorm downburst winds in excess of 50 mph began crossing the open desert, heading north towards Phoenix. The massive thunderstorm outflow boundary was easily able to entrain an incredible amount of dust and sand along the way. The dust wall, in dramatic fashion, was up to a mile high off the ground (over 5,000 feet) and up to 100 miles in breadth before engulfing Downtown Phoenix around 8:00 PM local time.

The historic weather event was well documented by beautiful photography and time lapse videos, but I wanted to highlight the event with Doppler radar imagery. Typically, when we hear of weather radar, we assume it must deal with tracking precipitation, however, the principles of Doppler radar allow us to detect other weather phenomena like dust storms! This can be especially useful during the nighttime hours since Doppler radar operates in the same manner whether it is daytime or not.

The two images shown (using the GR2Analyst program) are three-dimensional views of the Great Phoenix Haboob! The top image is a 3D radar perspective of the leading dust wall captured just minutes before entering Downtown Phoenix. The bottom radar image is a vertical cross-section at the same time. Both images reveal a dust wall extending upwards over a jaw-dropping 5,000 feet.

Keep in mind dust storms (also called haboobs) can happen at any time of the year, but tend to be most severe during that crucial time during the onset of the monsoon season before widespread thunderstorm rains have had a chance to stabilize desert soils throughout the region.

GR2Analysts used for radar visualization.