Massive haboob here last night. Didn't hit Tucson, although it started just north of here and went all the way to Phoenix. A haboob is a massive dust storm (we got a nice thunderstorm here last night). Lots of great video on the web...this is real and not a Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay production.
Many of us are of the age where we might remember a historical haboob from our younger days. During the Iranian hostage crisis, the U.S. staged a failed rescue attempt. They encountered a haboob. One helicopter turned back and another crashed contributing to the failure of the mission. I had a paper route at the time and took to reading the paper every day at the tender age of 12. I remember getting the papers and seeing the headline that morning...and that's the day I learned one of my favorite words...haboob.
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Trying to remember, it was either 90 or 91 I went to Arizona with a friend to skydive. It was our late winter, and Phoenix was excellent at the time. We rented a blue Camaro convertible to get around and to smoke the fine herb of your area, and while out running around, we had to frantically raise the top as one of the Haboobs was coming at us strong. One word. MUD. What happens when you have a dust storm with rain? It rains mud. That fine blue Camaro was not a fine blue after the storm.
Great mex food down there though. Not this Americanized crap we get around here.
We've had dust storms here but nothing like the one shown on the news this morning. Nasty.
Holy cow! That dust cloud just engulfed the entire city! I wonder what kind of problems these sandstorms create.
I have heard about the ones that rain mud, Huck. This one happened to be dry.
Aurora, Illinois has lots of really good Mexican food. I lived there while working at Fermilab. Some places can be a little dicey to order if you don't know Spanish...those are probably the ones you want to seek out!
I know flights were delayed, but haven't heard about too many problems from it (car washes are swamped today no doubt). Several of my Phoenix friends said the wind was so strong they got dust in through doggie doors or other small openings, even ones they didn't know about before. You can clog up a car's air filter pretty good if you drive in it, although most people here have enough sense to pull over when it's that bad. Some power outages, an overturned semi from the wind, but really not that much worse than a than a moderate storm day it sounds like.
How is this pronounced? One little slip and you'll get slapped.
It's pronounced in exactly the way that would get you slapped...why do you think I loved the word so much when I learned it all those years ago?
God love ya Hale... I have now kept my streak intact...learning a new word every day. Thanks. lol
Wow... that wall was massive! Get out the Pledge wipes!
I was driving the coastal highway in California and just as we entered Sand City... HABOOB! I didn't know the word for it, but it was amazing. You had to pull over. You couldn't see to drive.
That video was fantastic. A savage beauty in the sky, but not much fun down below. I guess you could say the same for funnel clouds or other storms.
I've never witnessed anything like it. I think I've said before that I spent a few days in Phoenix in the 80's, but no haboobs came up, I didn't know they existed and I didn't know the word.
It's an Arabic word: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haboob
Haboob...I love it....Hope you kept your eyes covered!
I see a lot of news articles this morning on the boob tube CNN had a reporter there, what a mess.
It was like most of the people were having fun with it saying they never saw anything like it before and it didn't appear as if anyone was worried.
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