Walls of sand, strong winds: Worrying phenomenon is increasing and plunging cities into darkness

Saudi Arabia, Texas, Mexico, Iraq... breathtaking sandstorms have recently (literally) spread everywhere.

They're called haboobs: walls of sand pushed by storm winds that can reach over 100km/h, as reported by Futura-sciences. This phenomenon regularly occurs in the world's desert regions in the spring time, causing considerable damage in its path: entire cities plunged into darkness, numerous road accidents, as well as lung conditions.

More Intense

With the onset of the warmer months, in April, May, and June, the conflicts of air masses in the atmosphere are most significant, causing extremely violent storms. While some regions are severely affected by desertification and soil erosion due to intensive agriculture, the phenomenon isn't becoming more frequent but more intense, leading to even more dust.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: Futura-sciences - Illustration: ©Unsplash)