A large storm system brought a rare snowfall to California and thunderstorms to the Southern Plains in late February 2023. The system also generated strong winds that caused a massive amount of dust to be lofted into the air, darkening skies across northwestern Texas, northern Mexico, and eastern New Mexico.
Strong winds produced by a low pressure system moving through the United States picked up large amounts of dust from California to Oklahoma on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, creating significant reductions in visibility that resulted in multiple car crashes in which at least one person died. In some places, the visibility was reduced to zero.
A severe dust storm hit parts of Argentina on January 12, 2023, quickly turning day into night.
A rare winter sandstorm swept over northern China on Monday, December 12, 2022, causing Beijing to suffer its worst bout of air pollution in nearly two years. This is the latest sand and dust warning signal issued by Beijing since 2015.
A massive sandstorm engulfed parts of northwest China’s Qinghai Province on July 20, 2022, disrupting traffic and plugging towns into darkness.
A large dust storm swept over parts of Iraq on May 16, 2022, grounding flights at Baghdad Airport and closing some schools, businesses and government offices. This is the 8th strong dust storm to hit the country since mid-April.
A fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms, known as a derecho, developed in central Nebraska on May 12, 2022, bringing hurricane-force winds and creating a rare, large wall of dust that swept over parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota, creating near-zero visibility on state highways.
More than 5 000 people were forced to seek medical assistance and one person has died after severe dust storm swept over large parts of Iraq on May 5, 2022. This is the 7th dust storm to hit the country so far this month.
A major dust storms hit large parts of Iraq, including the capital Baghdad, on May 1 and 2, 2022, turning the skies over the country orange.
Severe dust storms are affecting parts of the Middle East, from the Mediterranean Sea to parts of Saudi Arabia.
