Haboob brings zero visibility to Phoenix metro area, disrupts travel

A massive dust storm, known as a haboob, overtook the Phoenix metropolitan area on Monday, leaving many without power, grounding flights and blinding drivers.

While dust storms are common in Arizona during the monsoon season, they can strike at a moment’s notice. Monday’s wall of dust preceded rain in the late afternoon and early evening hours.

A National Weather Service dust storm warning was in effect for the Valley until 5:45 p.m. local time. 

“Be ready for a sudden drop to zero visibility,” the alert, shared by FOX 10 Phoenix’s Nicole Krasean on X said. “Pull aside, stay alive!”

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Anyone driving during dust storms is urged by authorities to pull far off the road, put their vehicle in park, turn off their lights and keep their foot off the brakes so that other drivers will not follow them. 

“I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside,” Bernae Boykin Hitesman told the Associated Press. She was driving her children home from school in Arizona City, which is about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, when it hit. 

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“I was nervous,” she said. “My kids were really, really scared, so I was trying to be brave for them.”

Flights were temporarily grounded at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as the storm rolled through, and some damage was caused to a terminal roof.

“Crews have been identifying leaks and attempting to clean up water where it has collected in passenger areas,” Heather Shelbrack, the airport’s deputy aviation director for public relations, told the AP. 

More than 15,000 people lost power, most in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, according to PowerOutage.us.

Phoenix has been drier than usual during the monsoon season, while parts of southeast and north-central Arizona have had a fair amount of rain, Mark O’Malley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, told the AP.

“But that’s typical for a monsoon, very hit and miss,” he said.

The forecast for metro Phoenix calls for a 40% chance of rain on Tuesday before drying out, O’Malley said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.