While East Coast residents
braced for up to a foot of snow during the first week of spring, Arizona got hit by its first large dust storm of the season on Tuesday.
According to KTAR Arizona, the large cloud of dust was identified around 3:30 p.m. near the city of Eloy, midway between Phoenix and Tucson along Interstate 10. It began near Tucson, said meteorologist James Quinones, where a number of thunderstorms were gathering.
The Arizona Department of Transportation and National Weather Service issued a dust storm warning along I-10 between the two major cities, and issued another one for the entire Phoenix metro area roughly 30 minutes later. They asked drivers to stay off the roads due to "rapidly changing visibilities"—a huge inconvenience for many during the hectic rush hour commute.
The haboob came uncommonly early in the season, according to the National Weather Service. "We usually don't see this until the summer when you get those really big supercells," said Quinones.
Despite the windy conditions, which are expected to remain as high as 40 mph through Thursday, one man attached a camera to his personal drone, capturing the storm from on-high as it approached his house.
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