Nice Haboobs...

 

The weather weasels were calling for "monsoon thunderstorms this evening."  Close.  It's coming faster and harder than they were predicting.

Anticipating a storm, Joan prepped our yard: the 3 big patio umbrellas are off their stands and put into our shed.  She put down a bunch of plants that were on raised plant holders.  Patio furniture is covered and tied down.  Covers over other stuff is strapped down.  In the grand scheme of things, this isn't like hurricane prep, but it looks like it isn't going to be pretty.

The view from our house has changed: we can't see the Estrella Mountains anymore, and the top half of South Mountain is getting swallowed up by the dust storm (aka: a haboob).

Local TV news is covering it live:

 Sky Harbor International Airport is under a "Ground Stop": nothing going out or coming in.  Visibility at the airport is below minimums for operations.  I feel for pilots in this mess, not to mention what the massive amount of blowing dirt and sand will do to jet engines that are running.

Joan is "reporting" from our patio door: "The antennas at the top of South Mountain have disappeared in the blowing dirt."

The reporters on TV have gone from "The dust storm is coming fast!" to "We have zero visibility!" to "Now it is pounding rain!" in about 15 minutes.  Wind gusts are above 60 mph (68mph gusts and zero visibility right now at the airport).  All that is coming our way.  

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It hit.  With gusto.  We had the pop-up kiosk over the hot tub (protects it from the pounding sun) tied down and weighted.  When the big gust front hit, it shredded the cover over the top of it.  We watched from the door for a bit, but when what was left of the cover had turned into "a sail," I took scissors, ran out into that nasty crap, and cut away what was left of the cover.  The wind was blowing like stink and the rain was pounding.  I took a moment to grab a few things that were blowing around the yard and toss them into the shed.

Joan had put two inflatables on top of the short patio table, under the cover, to keep rain from pooling on the cover.  The wind blew those out from under the cover, and they were swirling around the yard, knocking over plants like a drunk sailor.  (for those keeping track: that is two sailing references in this update)  I grabbed one in each hand and started heading towards the shed - the wind had other ideas and blew one out of my hand.  I am guessing it is somewhere on the way towards Flagstaff.

As expected, some plants blew over.  The patio furniture under the cover (couch, two arm chairs, a coffee table, and two end tables) blew "in formation" about 6 feet away from the house.  The wind was swirling all around our yard, coming off South Mountain.

No idea what the gusts peaked at, but I had to brace myself a couple times while out in it.

The local news just turned things back to the network - they have had live coverage for the past 3 hours, showing the storm from different places around the Valley.  And now reporting street flooding in some areas.

 

At 7:00, there is still wind, rain, lightning, and thunder out there, but I think we are past the worst of it.  For now.