Scoop Images: Sandstorm In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Thursday, 5 May 2005, 1:12 pm
Article: The Scoop Editor

Eyewitness Descriptions…

Look at these amazing photos of our recent sandstorm in Jeddah. I got those windows & doors sealed with towels at the edges, just in time! Here are some awesome pictures of a recent dust storm in Jeddah which you will all appreciate, if you once lived there, or be enlightened as to what we are talking about when we mention them. For those of us who were there in the early to mid 80's or earlier, you will remember that this was the pattern at this time of year--dust storm, heavy rain closely following, mud hole!--sometimes several times, but that all changed, for whatever reasons, after the first Gulf War. Of course the maturity of trees and greenery planted around the city has changed the weather patterns so that the dust storms stay on the fringes more now than they used to. This one seems to have broken all the rules!

Enjoy!

Faith

Speaking of the weather--you should have seen the dust storm here two weeks ago! Basically the weather is always nice and still not too hot but this dust storm came around 4:30 in the afternoon and turned the sky into night. It was so dark that I needed to turn on the lights to move around the house. For about 10 minutes during the two hour storm it was as dark as midnight with no moon. I thought it was an eclipse of the sun! After that you could see huge clouds in the sky but they were all brown with dust--no white clouds. It wasn't too windy either and usually you get a lot of wind with dust storms but not this one. Also even if you went outside for just a few minutes you could feel the fine dust in your lungs and eyes. Next day everything was nice again but early this morning at 4:30 the wind started, lighting and thunder all over the place and continuous not just once or twice but continuous and then heavy rain with hail the size of big cherries came out of the sky. All the roads are flooded this morning because they have insufficient drainage pipes in the city. It was really a vicious storm! Glad I wasn't flying! No way could you stand outside with that hail coming down! As far as people can remember, it never rains around here during this time of year usually only November or December, if it rains at all.

Tony

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