Seen in a NASA image, a massive dust storm has been blowing across much of the Middle East this week.
Explaining the Monster Dust Storm Sweeping the Middle East
The deadly storm was caused by a combination of “remarkably simple” conditions.
A massive dust storm is whipping across at least seven countries in the Middle East this week, leaving at least twelve people dead. And a weather expert says the storm required only a “remarkably simple set of conditions.”
Big dust storms like this are called haboobs, which is Arabic for “violent wind.” Haboobs can develop in many parts of the world and are known to travel for thousands of miles, even all the way across the Pacific, says Ken Waters, a meteorologist with the U.S. Weather Service in Phoenix who studies the phenomena.
The storm blowing across the Middle East has reduced visibility and sent thousands of people to hospitals with breathing problems in parts of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan,
