I’ve experienced blizzards, zero visibility, and icy roads, but nothing prepared me for driving in the sandstorm that hit the city this morning. Visibility was under 25 meters (roughly 25 yards) at times! Seeing traffic lights was almost impossible.
The sandstorm came in from Iraq, traveling through Kuwait with wind speeds clocking 25-35 knots. According to the national weather service, the regions experiences 8-10 severe sandstorms each year. In addition to the traffic accidents due to low visibility, health issues, especially respiratory infections, increase due to the storms.
Think I’ll stay in the rest of the day.
Downtown Abu Dhabi. Visibility was better here then on the coast there we live (see below).
The visibility was so bad, that I nearly missed the turn from my building coming home from tennis.
View from our balcony.
Can barely see the apartment building next door.
There are huge apartment buildings in this photo…really there are!
Wow 30 knots is a summer breeze in Fargo – Just think if we had sand here – we’d never see the light of day!