The Five Stages of Last Night's Haboob

August 19, 2011

After work last night, Ken Amorosano and I went next door to Cartwright's for drinks. I bought him a Gray Goose martini and I had a glass of wine, plus some appetizers ($70, biz account). Afterwards, I went up to Bashas' for groceries ($53, house account).

Got out of there at about six-thirty and noticed the sky was quite stormy and wind was kicking up. Stopped at the Cave Creek post office to check the mail and got a call from my neighbor Tom Aughteron who warned me we had a big Haboob (dust storm) rolling into our neighborhood. By the time I got home it was blowing pretty hard.

Unpacked the groceries, then went outside and stood on the deck in the breezeway and watched the storm roll in over the Seven Sisters. Took a mental snapshot, went inside to the studio and whipped this out:

Phase I of Last Night's Haboob.

Went back outside and watched some more. Spectacular sky, turning a dull orange from the setting sun burning through the haze of the dust storm:

Phase II of Last Night's Haboob

Repeated the process, laying in color very quickly, just getting the impression of what I was seeing. As the light started to fade, the glow started to shrink:

Phase III of Last Night's Haboob

It started to sprinkle and the air was wet, but it never poured down, just kept up a steady sprinkle, which was nice. Within about five minutes the golden sky darkened to a small patch:

Phase IV of Last Night's Haboob

As the storm dissolved and the light faded, splotches of bright color burned through the darkening sky:

Phase V of Last Night's Haboob

Thus ends our tour of last night's Haboob.

"Would a Haboob by any other name sound so silly?"
—Old Vaquero Question