Major Dust Storm Known as a ‘Haboob’ Sweeps Across the Southwest

Strong winds and a miles-long dust storm, visible from space, ripped through West Texas and New Mexico on Wednesday evening. The dust storm, known as a haboob, can stretch for miles, create walls of dust more than a thousand feet tall and travel across hundreds of miles, according to Fox Weather. The speed and randomness of haboobs often catch people off-guard, meteorologists warned that the storm could reduce visibility to less than a quarter mile on Wednesday. There were no accidents or damage directly caused by the haboob, but the dust build-up prior to the storm was likely the cause of a massive traffic pile-up near Sandoval, County in New Mexico, which shut down segments of Interstate 25, according to Fox Weather. Studies have shown that during haboobs, the Interstate 10 corridor, which runs from San Antonio through southern Arizona and New Mexico to Los Angeles, is one of the deadliest roadways in the country, according to Fox Weather. The immense size of Wednesday’s storm was captured on NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite in breathtaking detail.