The haboob-riddled summer of 2011 may be outdone this year if the Valley’s drought conditions don’t make measurable improvements, one Arizona air quality expert said.
Until Sunday’s storm that dropped about four-tenths of an inch to nearly an inch of rain in parts of the East Valley, the Valley had gone nearly 90 days without significant rain. Those dry conditions can create a situation similar to – or possibly even worse than — what set up last year’s events — including the 5,000-foot-tall dust cloud that dumped 50,000 to 200,000 tons of dirt here on July 5.
Many longtime Valley residents had never even heard the word “haboob” before last summer. Then it entered our vocabulary with alarming frequency.
The significantly poor air quality conditions of early July – including that widely-photographed and nationally-chronicled dust event – were reported to the federal Environmental Protection Agency in a 214-page document finished this month by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
Bottom line: Thunderstorms collapsed July 5 just north of Tucson in an extremely dry area where Pinal and Pima counties meet. It generated a pressure system – and winds up to 70 mph — that then delivered the dust and dirt to the Valley.
“The drier we are, the more concern I have for the summer and the blowing dust,” Eric Massey, head of air quality for the ADEQ, told the Tribune prior to this past weekend’s storm. “I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t concerned about the lack of rain.”
PM-10 levels — those tiny particles that are smaller than a human hair — were exceeded around the Valley. Anything above 150 micrograms per cubic meter in a 24-hour average is considered to be exceeding federal health standards.
On July 5, a west Chandler monitor hit 360 micrograms per cubic meter in a 24-hour average. A Higley monitor hit 362.
Multiple days in that first week of July included, there were 14 days where the Valley PM-10 levels exceeded federal health standards last summer alone, due to varying sized dust storms.
Because of the dry conditions of early 2012, PM-10 levels have already been elevated this year. Winds kicked up 20 mph to 30 mph two weeks ago, which created dust in the Valley and a high pollution advisory. It was the second of the year.
The rain is needed in the desert to keep dust in place. No measure of human efforts can stop what happened last summer. Valley leaders are already taking steps to manage the impact of our population – from construction to driving on dirt roads — on dry conditions, and ADEQ is now taking public comment on its dust control measures report.
“In 20-plus years of air pollution plans, we’ve come up with every solution we can think of,” Massey said.
With so much in place, the next step is just “alert people” to upcoming wind events.
“This rain is helpful for the short term and helping the desert to form a protective crust. But without more rain more often, we still run the risk of dust storms in the long term,” said ADEQ spokesman Mark Shaffer.
It could lead to a summer of bad air quality.
But the rain of the past weekend should help for a few weeks, said Marvin Percha, meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Phoenix office.
And it came at a good time. The Valley typically sees high winds in late March or early April.
But after that, the picture isn’t clear.
“For the next couple of weeks, we’ll probably have a break from the dust. But if we don’t get any more rain, it would likely create a problem in mid-April and onward,” Percha said.
Sure enough, temperatures are expected to hit the low to mid 80s by Thursday, which could dry up some of the moisture in the ground.
According to the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, as of March 6 the Valley had severe drought conditions. And the group’s prediction is for the drought to persist or intensify through the summer.
Conditions of last summer create a health hazard for many in the Valley, said Dr. Jagruti “Julie” Patel, a pulmonary critical care physician who practices as Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. During last summer’s dust storms, she was working at an outpatient clinic.
“After that there was an increase of both admissions of asthma and COPD aspiration and an increase and diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis,” she said — coccidioidomycosis being the clinical name for Valley Fever, a lung disease that is transferred through fungus spores in the air.
Dust can irritate the airways and create an allergic reaction for those with airway disease, she said.
“If you have airway disease, use a mask when you’re outdoors,” Patel offered as advice for dust storms. “If you are an immune-compromised patient or HIV positive, you’re at higher risk of getting (Valley Fever) and it can be more detrimental. You should use extra precaution. Stay indoors and use a mask when you go outside.”
Contact writer: (480) 898-6549 or mreese@evtrib.com
ChillbertAZ posted at 10:41 pm on Wed, Jun 13, 2012.
You don't need 20 air pollutant plans, you only need one. Stop the geoengineering in our skies. Have you looked up lately? Do you not see the aerosol disbursement of Aluminum, Barium, strontium, and many other toxins deliberately being sprayed into the sky? No, not by commercial Sky Harbor air traffic, by planes flying completely out of FAA regulation flight patterns, criss crossing the skies filling it with cloud like trails. If the Dept. of Air Quality has any legitimacy at all, they would stop it. Brewer would stop it, but instead, she chooses to sell permits for weather mod projects for $110. Do you people really think we are that stupid to believe that the toxins in the air are caused by cars of natural "spores". Most of the cloud cover that we have gotten in the valley for the past few years has been laid by jets. All you have to do is look up and pay a little bit of attention to what is going on. It's criminal, it's causing serious health problems, including Autism and Alzheimers, and it's happening all over the planet. As far as the dust storms go, you can thank HAARP for those. Any doubts, try www.aircrap.org. A million people across the world all can't be mistaken.
DrJCA1 posted at 2:05 pm on Thu, Mar 22, 2012.
Sand storms and the like are even better reasons for urban sprawl. Dopey wind cannot blow around concrete. heh heh.
Rich posted at 7:59 pm on Wed, Mar 21, 2012.
Actually Dale, a 'haboob' is a sand storm, and if you'd ever seen a real one you'd know, it doesn't even compare in any way with our Southwestern dust storms. Just because some pseudo-intellectual weatherman got it wrong doesn't obligate the rest of us to perpetuate the mistake. It isn't even the correct word in Arabic. And it was a Greek living in Alexandria who figured out the circumference of the Earth. Not that I deny the Bana Musa brothers discovered (created) algebra or that Averroes wasn't Aquinus' equal, but then Maimonides wasn't chopped liver. If you're going to champion expanding English, at least do a little research and don't make a horse's behind of yourself getting it wrong.
DesertBunny posted at 2:46 pm on Wed, Mar 21, 2012.
I sure hope no one with VF has her as their doctor! Check out the facts at www.valleyfeversurvivor.com and learn why it's not just people with immune problems who get this. Read their book too, it has more info than most doctors know about VF. Wish I read it before I came to Arizona.
Slabside posted at 2:15 pm on Wed, Mar 21, 2012.
Arizona weather has been quite strange the last couple of years. Not much we can do about it though.
Dale Whiting posted at 6:42 am on Wed, Mar 21, 2012.
Ok, Gang,
Being an Arab word, are we going to have to go through another round of objections to the use of the word Haboob? Or will the boobs [taken from "boobies," a word with Latin roots] just keep their peace and learn to appreciate, if not honor, the rich heritage English has from other many languages? Otherwise all you boobies out there, if you prefer, try counting from one to ten in Roman numerals. You can't use Arabic numerals. And forget about Algebra, an Arabic mathmatical discipline which was developed when Europe was still in the "dark ages." And remember, a group of Arabs suspecting that the world was actually round, devised a means to measure it without having to actually sail round it and did so while Egpyt was still ruling. So much for Britania!