Why is it so hazy in Phoenix today? You can thank a ‘Haboob’ from New Mexico

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — If you can see a dust storm from space, you know it’s huge. Dust picked up from decaying thunderstorms in New Mexico, causing a hazy first day of summer around the Phoenix metro and central and southern Arizona.

Yes, the dust came all the way from New Mexico.

National Weather Service meteorologists from El Paso to Albuquerque had their hands full with severe weather late Wednesday. Massive thunderstorms dumped large amounts of hail, flooding rain, and strong, damaging winds across the Land of Enchantment and beyond.

As we’ve seen here in the Phoenix metro during our summer Monsoon, when those towering thunderstorms start to collapse, the cold, dense air that drops tens of thousands of feet to the ground can roll up massive walls of dust.

These outflow boundaries can push this dust hundreds of miles, which showed up on weather satellites orbiting the Earth. Estimates put this enormous haboob at over 200 miles long. The outflow pushed the dust westward into our state in the overnight hours.

A check of air quality gauges across Maricopa County Thursday afternoon showed several with high levels of PM-10, particulate matter that can be unhealthy for sensitive groups of people with breathing issues.

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