I may have written about this before, last year, but today announced itself as the day to revisit the topic of "shamal," which essentially means "wind." What it means here is dust storm.
Shamals are common here later in the spring, but today brought one that surprised everyone. The forecast was for a high of 97, with 20 mph winds, and coming to work this morning looked lovely. At lunch I walked from work back to my room to fetch something, and I could see visibility was a bit reduced, but still normal. At 1 p.m., though, when I went outside to meet the taxi to go to the U.S. Consulate to pick up my passport there was a serious reduction in visibility. (The image below is the observation at 2 p.m. after I returned.)
Being out in this wind is kinda like being out in a driving rain in a heavy wind, except sharper. I've been out in rainstorms - heck, let's be honest, I've gone out of my way to be out in big rainstorms. I love it!! There is something invigorating in that, when the air is alive and the rain hitting your skin and drenching you is energized! It is an exhilarating experience!! A shamal is not quite the same.
I went out, I guess, near the beginning of the peak period of the event. The wind was around 30 mph with some serious gusts. Like in a big rain storm when you can see sheets and waves of raining moving toward you, I could masses of dust swirling, rolling, and racing my way. But unlike rain that hits and spreads across your skin or clothes, the sand hits and bites, digs, and stays. Not knowing this was coming, I didn't even have my sunglasses for eye protection, but I'm not sure what help they'd have been. I do have good reflexes, which I know forced my eyes shut many times a split second before a blast of wind-driven sand impacted my eye lids - I am grateful for those reflexes! It is exhausting to fight your way through the wind and sand. When you come in, you feel pretty much beat to pieces and don't want to do that again!!
From inside a building or car it looks like thick fog, and you have to remember what is going on out there - not an issue when you are out in it!! Just for reference, below is an image I took from the top of my building last April on a clear day.
This image is from this afternoon about 2:30. It was after the peak of the shamal so visibility was already improving, but you should get the idea. At the peak the visibility was down to a quarter of a mile, about half as good as below - at the peak I couldn't even see the mosque near the center of the image, which is at center right in the image above.
Last year we had no significant shamal events, while year before last they had two months of it, almost non-stop from April through March, and we had a very mild year, relatively speaking, for temperatures. It'll be interesting to see how the coming year plays out - I'll let you know!
If you've read this far, thank you! If you enjoy my writing, I'd love to hear from you - it's encouraging to get feedback every so often so I know if anyone is reading! If you don't want to miss a word, there is an option to "Follow by Email" on the right side of the page; enter your email address and click Submit to get a notice when new posts are ready. I'd be happy to have you aboard as I continue this journey! Best to all, Mark
Shamals are common here later in the spring, but today brought one that surprised everyone. The forecast was for a high of 97, with 20 mph winds, and coming to work this morning looked lovely. At lunch I walked from work back to my room to fetch something, and I could see visibility was a bit reduced, but still normal. At 1 p.m., though, when I went outside to meet the taxi to go to the U.S. Consulate to pick up my passport there was a serious reduction in visibility. (The image below is the observation at 2 p.m. after I returned.)
Being out in this wind is kinda like being out in a driving rain in a heavy wind, except sharper. I've been out in rainstorms - heck, let's be honest, I've gone out of my way to be out in big rainstorms. I love it!! There is something invigorating in that, when the air is alive and the rain hitting your skin and drenching you is energized! It is an exhilarating experience!! A shamal is not quite the same.
I went out, I guess, near the beginning of the peak period of the event. The wind was around 30 mph with some serious gusts. Like in a big rain storm when you can see sheets and waves of raining moving toward you, I could masses of dust swirling, rolling, and racing my way. But unlike rain that hits and spreads across your skin or clothes, the sand hits and bites, digs, and stays. Not knowing this was coming, I didn't even have my sunglasses for eye protection, but I'm not sure what help they'd have been. I do have good reflexes, which I know forced my eyes shut many times a split second before a blast of wind-driven sand impacted my eye lids - I am grateful for those reflexes! It is exhausting to fight your way through the wind and sand. When you come in, you feel pretty much beat to pieces and don't want to do that again!!
From inside a building or car it looks like thick fog, and you have to remember what is going on out there - not an issue when you are out in it!! Just for reference, below is an image I took from the top of my building last April on a clear day.
This image is from this afternoon about 2:30. It was after the peak of the shamal so visibility was already improving, but you should get the idea. At the peak the visibility was down to a quarter of a mile, about half as good as below - at the peak I couldn't even see the mosque near the center of the image, which is at center right in the image above.
Last year we had no significant shamal events, while year before last they had two months of it, almost non-stop from April through March, and we had a very mild year, relatively speaking, for temperatures. It'll be interesting to see how the coming year plays out - I'll let you know!
If you've read this far, thank you! If you enjoy my writing, I'd love to hear from you - it's encouraging to get feedback every so often so I know if anyone is reading! If you don't want to miss a word, there is an option to "Follow by Email" on the right side of the page; enter your email address and click Submit to get a notice when new posts are ready. I'd be happy to have you aboard as I continue this journey! Best to all, Mark
So has the wind calmed down yet?!
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