The Grapes of Wrath in iColor

It's strangely fitting that I'm reading a book about the Dust Bowl, considering what happened yesterday. It was a dusty, windy day, which is far from unusual where I live. Lately I've taken to carrying a scarf with me just so I can wrap it around my head, grandma style, to keep my hair from being destroyed while walking across campus for meetings. Outside in such weather, you must always wear sunglasses, and NEVER open your mouth. Also, try not to breathe too deeply or dust will go up your nose.

As I was driving off campus after work, I called my mom to discuss a paper she'd asked for help with. Concentrating on the discussion meant that I didn't notice much beyond the few feet of road in front of me. It wasn't until I stopped at an intersection that I looked out my side window and saw this:


Then I jerked my head forward and saw this:


My first thought was "Haboob! Haboob! Pictures!" and I had the presence of mind to articulate, "OH MY GOSH Mom, it's a HABOOB! Just a minute!" and then accidentally hung up on her. She had no idea what I was talking about.

Now, I've lived in West Texas for almost 4 years, and I've never seen anything like this. It looked like a mega-gargantuan tornado ready to engulf the entire city:



Less than two minutes after seeing it approach, I was driving through it:


This picture doesn't do it justice. It was more of a dark coffee color, visibility like midnight in a thick fog. The dust thinned out after a couple more minutes, but I passed two malfunctioning traffic lights during the remainder of the journey home. Debris blew all over the place. Never in my life have I been more grateful that I have a garage to park in.

For those who don't know, haboob is Arabic for "strong wind", and the weather term for an intense dust storm. Haboobs usually happen in the Middle East, but occasionally Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas will see them. Interestingly enough, the picture displayed on the Wikipedia entry is of a community not 15 minutes from where I live. But not only have I never seen a dust storm this intense, no one else I know has either. It's been reported that this is the worse haboob West Texas has seen since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Stratford, TX, 1935 (Image from Wikipedia.org)

Winds were up to 70mph, windows broke, roofs were stripped of shingles, a small (parked) plane was overturned at the airport, and an airliner now sits on its rear-end, nose pointing to the sky. My crafty-minded friends lost all their outdoor decorations. One of my friends said that the haboob stole her Halloween mat, but left her a baseball bat for her to find in the yard last night!

Who said West Texas is a boring place to live? I'll be continuing Steinbeck with fresh vigor this week.