Fire and Dust

Wednesday evening, I was sitting in my living room working on my laptop when I looked out the window and saw that the sky was on fire (this amazing sunset).  I grabbed my camera and went outside to capture the loveliness.  It was beastly hot (over 100 degrees, I'm sure) even though it was already 7:45 in the evening.  I decided to go for a quick walk to the field on the other side of the houses to get a better view of the sky.

The further I went on my walk, the more beautiful the sky became.

When I got to the end of the apartments, however, and looked across the street to the golf course there (to the east), the sky looked quite different--angry, in fact.  And dirty.  I quickly realized that I was about to experience my first haboob in person.  Never mind that a year ago I had never even heard of such a thing.  Now, I was going to be smack dab in the middle of one!

That wall of dirt was literally rolling down the road, through the golf course and coming straight for me!

I looked back to my right (to the west) and saw the beautiful sunset still going on, although it was fading somewhat as the dust began rolling in.

Looking back to my left, I saw that the haboob was approaching the mountain that is on the far side of the golf course.

I was fascinated by how fast this thing was moving, and how clearly I could see it.

Within minutes it was engulfing the mountain. . .

. . . and obliterating it!

 At its peak, I could barely see the mountain.










Meanwhile, the dust had also taken out the sunset.  By this time, I was back where I'd started, a mere 10 minutes earlier (I didn't want to disappear myself into the dust.  As it was, I had inhaled a fair amount of it.).  I can honestly say, I have never seen anything like this...but it will probably not be the last time.