This is a photo I saw online from Monday afternoon at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Flights had to be diverted to Las Vegas and Los Angeles due to the haboob.
What’s a haboob?
A haboob is a type of intense dust storm carried by the wind of a weather front or thunderstorm. Haboobs occur regularly in dry land area regions throughout the world, and off-Earth. They can be dangerous.
Source: Wikipedia
Fortunately we missed this event. We are still at the beach enjoying beautiful weather. I received photos and videos from neighbors. The haboob hit Maricopa County south of Phoenix all the way up north to our neighborhood. We didn’t get the brunt of it, but I read the winds were up to 75 mph.
I also read that 67,000 homes lost power.
A haboob is a dust storm pushed by the wind produced by a weather front or thunderstorm and typically occurs in flat, arid areas. Heavy rain and wind followed Monday’s haboob, delaying flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and causing some damage to a terminal roof.
https://weather.com/news/news/2025-08-26-phoenix-arizona-dust-storm-haboob
A couple years ago, my husband was driving on a freeway in Scottsdale when a haboob hit. He said he lost visibility and his car was being moved around. Talk about scary. I’m glad I was safe at home at the time. When it passed, he said there were trees littering the freeway.
In any case, I’m glad to be at the beach and that we missed the haboob. Mostly I’m glad we weren’t driving at the time. Also, the good news was the haboob was followed by much needed rain.
Have you heard of a haboob before?
What type of strange weather do you have where you live?
I have never heard of that before!! Crazy!! We just have humidity. And if late the West side 1 train gets flooded during big rain….those pics are wild
I had never heard of haboobs until moving to Arizona. One thing we don’t have is humidity. I’ve seen photos of flooding in NYC. They are wild.
😆
😊
Incredible photos! Yes, I am very, very familiar with haboobs. Thankfully, I wasn’t affected the other day, though the sky went pitch black for 20 minutes around 5pm with dime-sized hail… it was a bit apocalyptic. That’s so scary about your husband. I’ve been caught driving home on the 101 twice during haboobs, though, where I couldn’t see the tail lights in front of me and could hear the wind whipping against the car frame.
I consider microbursts on par with haboobs. They’re the small but intense downdraft of air within a thunderstorm, typically less than 2.5 miles in diameter, that can produce winds up to 175 mph causing significant damage similar to that of a tornado. I’ve seen roofs ripped off homes, mature trees plucked from the ground, and trampolines propelled a mile from their home. Hard to imagine in the middle of the desert.
My husband was on the 101, too. He was surprised by all the trees on the freeway after the haboob left. You don’t see many trees around while you’re driving.
How strange about the hail and the darkness the other day! I read that part of the roof of concourse 4 at the airport was ripped off.
My friends here have a sailboat in the Santa Barbara harbor. They were sailing and got hit by a microburst. Thankfully they were just outside the harbor and when the microburst went away, other boaters came out and helped them back. Their sail and mast were damaged and my friends said it was unbelievably scary.
Scary weather!
Very scary. I’m glad we were on vacation and missed it. I have outdoor cameras at my house and we got lots of wind.
I’ve seen lots of reports of strong damaging winds this summer. I shudder to think what hurricane season may bring before it’s over.
The airport was damaged. Parts of a roof blew off during the haboob. Let’s hope for a weak hurricane season!
Fingers crossed!
Very scary! I have heard of them but never experienced one. I imagine the dust and sand get into everything.
Since we’ve moved to Arizona, we haven’t had one by our house. But I heard from neighbors that this one was all the way up where we live. We’re 30 minutes north of downtown Scottsdale. When we get home from vacation, I’ll find out if sand and dust made it inside our house!
This is so scary! 67,000 without power. Wow.
I’m so glad we weren’t there and caught in it!
We’ve been watching this on the news. It doesn’t even look real!
😳
Isn’t it crazy looking!
70 miles wide and 5,000 feet tall – that is incredible. Wow, those pictures tell a story. Glad you were at the beach!
I’m so glad we missed it, too! I read the airport was damaged with part of a roof being torn off.
wow, I have never heard of a haboob before but when I was in the UAE and driving with the other teachers about 20 miles away to a worksite, we had school cancelled a couple of times because of wicked sand storms. Luckily, I usually drove with someone from the Middle East familiar with this, so we dodged a few bullets. By the way, UAE Middle Eastern drivers, were terrifying to me. They don’t seem to follow any rules.
I wonder if it was a haboob in the UAE? Arizona drivers I think are worse than California drivers. Every time we are on the freeway, there are pick up trucks going more than 100 mph. On the two way street up to where we live, I was coming home from PT and a guy was coming head on into my lane to pass five cars who he thought was too slow. I ended up stopped on the shoulder to avoid a collision.
We have many new people driving in Florida and they don’t know the roads or the rules. There have been more accidents. I still think the UAE was the scariest and I would not drive there. The speeds were excessive. And if you are stopped as a foreigner, someone told me that the Emiraitis are non blame, so be careful.
That sounds awful. I’ve heard that Arizona has bad drivers because almost nobody is from Arizona. They’re from all over the country and probably like your new people, don’t know the rules or roads.
It might have been a haboob.
It could have been, because it fits the area and definition.
That is a wow. I heard about it but the photos are amazing
It’s so dramatic. I’m happy to be at the beach!
From other people accounts it was such a mess
I am thankful we missed it!
How is you place though? I bet the pool is a mess
I don’t know how our home is. We’re still at the beach. I have neighbors checking on it and a house sitter and they haven’t said anything. One neighbor sent me a video from their backyard and there was strong winds, but not the dust like in the photos.
Lucky not much dust just a pool with lots of leaves no doubt
Good news is our pool service comes every week. I bet they were busy this week!
Yes they would have a busy week that’s for sure
Whenever we have windy days, they are swamped with extra hours of work.
Wow! I have heard of them and have seen pictures, but – thank goodness – I’ve never experienced a haboob. After I read your post, I contacted my friends who live in Phoenix to see if they were impacted… fortunately it didn’t get out their way.
Lucky for your friends to miss it. My neighbors sent me video of strong winds in their backyard, but not a big dust storm like in the photos. I’m happy to be at the beach.
What a scary sight- just like in movies. I’m glad you’re safe and away from this danger
I am too. Part of the roof was ripped off the airport. People lost power. I don’t know if there were car accidents or not or damage to homes.
Nature can be very ferocious at times
It certainly can be ferocious.
Yes it can be.
👍🏼
🙏🏼
I have heard of them but never seen one (hope I never do!). I have been in some bad dust storms, even when driving in northern Arizona and it is scary and dangerous, for sure.
I have never seen a haboob in person, either. The time my husband was driving in one, it couldn’t be seen from our home. We drove up to Flagstaff a few years ago in July and got caught in a hail storm that was really scary. No visibility and our car was dented from bumper to bumper!
The images were unbelievable…and I instantly thought of you, Elizabeth. Grateful you were far away enjoying your happy place at the beach.
Me too! I am so happy we missed the storm. One of my big fears is driving through storms. It’s happened a few times and it’s not fun.
The footage on the news was incredible – seemingly no warning whatsoever. Wow, wow, wow. 💔
I think the worst thing would have been driving when that hit. Or being in the terminal at the airport where the roof was ripped off!
Super scary…for sure! 💔
👍🏼
Wow those photos are so crazy! I have never seen a storm like this before. I can’t image all that dust everywhere. Glad you missed it! Hope you are enjoying the beach.
Thank you. Yes, we are so happy we missed the storm, too!
What a scary sight, and I’m glad you were at the beach. The weather is getting wilder!
I had some glitches going on and I lost our last few comments. I had spent time editing and adding to a post for Monday, and after I saved it all my changes disappeared! I tried to restore the latest draft, and WP said any changes after 5 p.m. would disappear. I guess that was the rest of our comments. FYI, I never got the post restored either and had to go back and recreate what I lost.
The joy of technology 😊
🙃
I saw several photos around and a few news clips. Yes, quite the event, and I’m glad you missed it!
When we lived in Glendale (10/95-5/97) we experienced an intense storm that knocked out power for days. I was thinking it was a monsoon, but now that I think about it, Monsoon is a season, right? It might have been a thunderstorm after a haboob—it was so intense and we were shocked by this, having been Floridans our whole lives, this was new.
I think you’re correct that a monsoon is a season of weather. I bet it was a thunderstorm, which happen a lot in monsoon season.