The apocalypse came to Arizona today, in the form of a massive wall of water that already swallowed California and (finally) broke it off the rest of the contiguous 48 states.
That's what it looked like, anyway.
A number of the desert rats that inhabit Phoenix could be heard running around and screaming something about “The Nothing is coming, the Nothing is coming!! Falcore...!! Faaaalcooore!!!” and a sudden influx of advertisements for post-rapture petcare services started popping up again for $1700 deposits – non-refundable, of course.
Not to be outdone by other worldly natural delays such as the recent ash clouds, Arizona saw flight delays and traffic interruptions of its own when this massive dust storm rolled into – and over – town on Tuesday. These massive dust storms aren't unheard of in Arizona and are often an impressive feature of the annual desert monsoon season, but this one was especially monstrous.
Video showed the cloud could be seen from miles away and stretched for some 35 miles long. It moved surprisingly fast too, though perhaps not so surprising when you consider inside there were winds of more than 100 km per hour.
People were out tossing a football around in the street one minute and getting sand-blasted the next. Some residents who opened their doors just for a peek got a couple of eyeball-fuls of sand, while others had their living rooms covered in mini sand dunes within minutes, thanks to flapping doggy doors.
Arizona in summer – a dry heat, indeed!
Check out this sweet timelapse photo set
2011 Storm Chasing - ScottWoodPhotography
and other videos of this crazy desert storm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifk89ZBqS8c
Photo courtesy of Janice N.