Arizona Living

The work day just ended and I walk out the door to very high temps -- 116+ -- and blue skies overhead.  I hop in my car and very carefully grab the seatbelt as the metal part gets very hot! and snap it in place, fire up my Cruze and turn toward home.  The onboard dash reads the outside temp as 119F.

Off over the mountains, about 10 miles away, I can see clouds -- oh boy, maybe a monsoon is headed our way!  As I drive about a mile toward those mountains, I can see low in the center of the dark clouds a bit of yellowish white and then my phone buzzes me with an alert.  Dust storm advisory until 5:30pm!

I drive another mile and I can see that this yellowish white patch has gotten taller, and much wider.  I cross my fingers that I'll reach home before the onslaught of wind and debris reaches me.  I turn a corner - two miles from home - and I can tell it's closer with every minute that ticks off the clock.  Another mile to go, and bits of leaves and gusts of wind buffet the side of my car as I pass each side street.  I miss the final light before my turnoff, so there I sa
t for another 90 seconds, watching the winds pick up.  The light finally turns green and I give her some gas, another half mile to go.  I watch a bird trying to fly from left to right in front of me straight into the wind.  He didn't make it to the grassy area but only reached the sidewalk.  Just past this grassy park is my turn for home, and I'm relieved that I'm finally home!

As the dust storm passes over my house, inside becomes so dark that I turn on the living room lights.  The wind kicks at my wind chimes and set them off, adding a nice tinkling noise.  Odd comforts as the rest of the storm passes through.

I am thankful that these dust storms don't last if you're in one spot.  They usually pass through in under 20 minutes, unless it's a really large one.  If you're out on the road, it can be worse than driving in fog.  You can't see very far in front of you; at the same time, you feel your car rocking with every blast of wind.  Then there's the other drivers, you have no idea if they are practiced in driving in any kind of wicked weather. 

ADOT tweeted this photo - thank goodness I drive all surface streets to and from work!