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massive sandstorm in AZ


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http://www.msnbc.msn...426/ns/weather/

Can someone explain why this storm happened and why it was so bad?

It was produced by a gust front, very likely generated by the outflow of rain-cooled air from an intense thunderstorm from the very active start of the monsoon season. Thunderstorms in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental have been quite intense lately and have entered Arizona with a bang. It was very likely enhanced by the drought conditions currently in the area.

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Only a partial explanation and in fact the storm that generated the haboob did not come from the Sierra Madre but developed in the Benson area some 45 miles north of the Border. Dynamics associated with a monsoon disturbance in Chihuahua resulted in an industrial grade severe thunderstorm line segment worthy of Oklahoma. Winds gusting 70-80 mph along a broad fronat did significant damage in Tucson . As it approached it definitely was a Black Wall of Doom. Such storms accelerate when they come downhill out of the Mescal Pass and remain active for some time. Tucson has had rain recently but this was the first outflow boundary of the Summer to hit PHX This BTW was not a Rim event.

Steve

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Only a partial explanation and in fact the storm that generated the haboob did not come from the Sierra Madre but developed in the Benson area some 45 miles north of the Border. Dynamics associated with a monsoon disturbance in Chihuahua resulted in an industrial grade severe thunderstorm line segment worthy of Oklahoma. Winds gusting 70-80 mph along a broad fronat did significant damage in Tucson . As it approached it definitely was a Black Wall of Doom. Such storms accelerate when they come downhill out of the Mescal Pass and remain active for some time. Tucson has had rain recently but this was the first outflow boundary of the Summer to hit PHX This BTW was not a Rim event.

Steve

Oh, of course not, I didn't even tried to imply that. My remark was as how active the monsoon has been lately, with very strong TS activity recently in the SM Occ., and how the monsoon has entered the stage in AZ with a bang.

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Oh, of course not, I didn't even tried to imply that. My remark was as how active the monsoon has been lately, with very strong TS activity recently in the SM Occ., and how the monsoon has entered the stage in AZ with a bang.

Yes, this is one of those times where we go from non soon to monsoon in a day. We actually can (and do) get MCS's from the Sierra Madre-they usually hit Sierra Vista hard and then move into Tucson at night. MCV's from those MCS's can create some havoc as well. One MCV from a Sierra Madre MCS was tracked during the NAME project in 2004 from Mexico into Great Basin and then across the Plains where it triggered severe weather all of the way. Not unusual for the monsoon to interact with the westerlies-in fact the Asian Monsoon does it all the time.

Steve

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