Haboob of Eastern Washington, almost always leading to an impact with the city of Spokane. If the storms are strong enough, they can reach as far east as Post Falls and Moscow, in North Idaho. Global dust storms on Mars have been compared to haboobs on Earth. Haboob A haboob () is a type of intense dust storm carried on an atmospheric gravity current, also known as a weather front. Haboobs occur regularly in dry land area regions throughout the world. During thunderstorm formation, winds move in a direction opposite to the storm's travel, and they move from all directions into
Haboob silt and clay (collectively, dust) up from the desert, creating a wall of sediment that precedes the storm cloud. This wall of dust can be up to wide and several kilometers in elevation. At their strongest, haboob winds often travel at , and they may approach with little or no warning. Often rain does not appear at ground level as it evaporates in the hot, dry air (a phenomenon known as virga). The evaporation cools the rushing air even further and accelerates it. Occasionally, when the rain does persist, it can contain a considerable quantity of dust. Severe cases are