A major dust storm roared into Phoenix Thursday night shutting down the airport, knocking out power across the city and stopping thousands of residents from being able to travel to holiday destinations.
Sky Harbor International Airport shut down all flights after 8 p.m. because of the storm according to an airport spokeswoman. Flights resumed about an hour later but over two dozen flights had to be diverted to other airports.
The storm was the first of the city’s yearly monsoon season. Heavy rains joined the winds of more than 50 miles per hour to knock down trees, flood streets and leave over 25,000 residents without power.
The storm also stopped the city’s “Red, White and Boom” Fourth of July fireworks show in the southeast part of the city.
Two fires also broke out as a part of the storm which firefighters attributed to lightning strikes.
They look like tornadoes and they cause destruction like a tornado.
Except they’re really made of scalding hot white ash from the pyroclastic flow from Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung which has been in the midst of major eruptions.
A web video released on YouTube is showing a massive pyroclastic flow rushing down the mountain and destroying everything in its path with hot gas and ash. In the wake of the flow, the video shows multiple tornado-like vortexes that continue to spin and create debris.
Scientists say the twisters technically aren’t tornadoes because there is no cumulonimbus cloud at the top. The phenomenons are more like dust devils seen throughout the desert southwest. Heat from the flow causes hot air near the ground to rapidly rise.
The smoke from the volcano is not really smoke but vaporized rock from the heat of the volcano.
Over the last year, residents of the Midwest have been reporting weather conditions that remind historians of the “Dust Bowl.”
Close to 62% of the United States remain in drought conditions and scientists are reporting that parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico are in “exceptional drought conditions.” Continue reading →