A blizzard in Kuwait?

Yes, it's true. Yesterday we had the heaviest sandstorm since I arrived and it reminded me a lot of a blizzard. When I woke up in the early morning hours there was a heavy layer of dust in the air that has given everything a light powder coating during the night. It cleared up by 6:00 and it was beautiful but windy for a few hours. About 9 o'clock as I was driving to another base there were unusual clouds building in the distance, a strong wind was beginning to pick up, and the pressure felt like it was dropping. It was the type of weather we associate with tornado season in Indiana. I made it a point to hurry back. The storm hit just after lunch time. I did not see it roll in, but often such storms roll in as an enormous, billowing wall of sand, looking very much like that scene in the Mummy when Brenden Frasier has to hide from the sandstorm created by the mummy. In any case, once it hit, it was almost like a blizzard- you couldn't see more than 100 yards in front of you. The roads on base were completely obscured by the blowing sand and you couldn't go faster than 10 miles per hour due to the poor conditions. Once out of the vehicle we had to wear goggles to keep the sand out of our eyes and balaclavas to keep the sand out of our ears, noses, and lungs. The dust and sand clogged the radiator to the diesel generator that provides power for our office tent, causing it to overheat and shut down at the height of the storm. The sand blocked out so much sunlight that it seemed to be twilight. Then, after about two hours, the storm passed and it suddenly became clear and sunny again...

This was taken with the flash on, which is why you see the individual grains of sand blowing by.


This is without the flash. The gazebo in the picture was about 50 yards from where I was standing.


Once the storm passed, sand was everywhere. This is the sink in the deluxe porta potty outside our tent.


This is the sand that drifted into our walkway. Time to break out the shovels!