2006 Dust Storms

Snyder Texas, USA

These photographs were taken by:
Jim Wilkerson
Sunday, 1 January, 2006

"The New Year Started very windy here in West Texas. 45-50 MPH gusts and no rain for a long time makes for a dusty day."

Roosevelt County, New Mexico

This photograph taken by:
David Kohake
3 January, 2006

"I took some pictures today of some of the erosion that has occurred on the burned area. Most of them just show road ditches starting to fill up. One photo you can see some erosion still occurring. Only a few fields were blowing today. I guess when the wind speed is only 20 to 30 mph they have stabilized some (after we had 60 mph winds on Sunday)."



"These pictures are because of a fire but a little different circumstance than the Texas and Oklahoma fires. There have been some more fires south of here in Lea county near Hobbs, NM that burned a large area. As you probably know it is very dry (can't remember the last time we got any precipitation). So far we have had a very windy winter (higher than normal) so if Spring is like that I'm sure wind erosion will be a major problem here and in Texas. We were in a field that was blowing pretty bad. Around 1 to 2 inches had been removed by looking at the crowns of the grass plants."

Western Kansas

Saturday 15 April, 2006

Surface low pressure developed across northeast Colorado during the morning hours of Saturday, April 15 and quickly traversed northeastward into central Nebraska by the afternoon hours. Showers and thunderstorms developed during the late morning hours on the backside of the low across eastern Colorado and northwest Kansas. Severe wind gusts advanced outward from the thunderstorms resulting in several damage reports across the area. Strong to severe wind gusts also occurred as a result from the gradient wind present from the low pressure system. These strong winds carried dust aloft across western Kansas and carried it across the state.

Beijing, China

17 April, 2006
Source: Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Desertification of the country's west and Mongolian steppes has made the spring sand storms worse in recent years, reaching as far away as South Korea and Japan.

Cold, windy weather, a glut of construction sites and poor plant cover around Beijing have also contributed.

So far in 2006, Beijing has notched up 13 days of the worst measure of pollution, more than last year's total and the highest in six years, state media said.

Only 53 "blue sky" days in Beijing had been recorded in 2006 by last Wednesday. The city sets a target of about 230 such clean days a year to help what it says will be a "Green Olympics".

Hospitals have also dealt with a sharp increase in patients with respiratory diseases, and on Monday local newspapers warned residents to wear masks outdoors.

"It took me quite a while to wipe off the sand on my car," said office clerk Chong Zi, who drove to work. "But there's no point in washing it -- who knows when the next storm will hit?"




21 April, 2006
Source: European Space Agency

The worst sandstorm in five years swept through Beijing, China, overnight Sunday covering the city in some 300 000 tonnes of sand and yellow dust. Envisat captured the sand whipping over the capital on 17 April 2006. (Landmass has been outlined in black around the Yellow Sea for reference.)