Dust storm

“ Presently the storm broke forth into full snowy bloom, and the thronging crystals darkened the air. The wind swept past in hissing floods, grinding the snow into meal and sweeping down into the hollows in enormous drifts all the heavier particles, while the finer dust was sifted through the sky, increasing the icy gloom. ”

“ He continues to describe the dust storm as follows:—“Some of them come on with great rapidity, as if at the rate of forty to sixty miles an hour. They occur at all hours, oftentimes near sunset.
The sky is clear and not a breath moving: presently a low bank of clouds is seen in the horizon, which you are surprised you did not observe before; a few seconds have passed, and the cloud has half filled the hemisphere, and there is no time to lose—it is a dust storm—and helter-skelter every one rushes to get into the house to escape being caught in it. ”

“ The dust-clouds, lighted up by the evening sun, show the exact direction of the storm; some are of an inky black, others gray, and in the distance they can be seen dashing up against one another, and forming, as it were, a series of hills and valleys; yet there is scarcely a leaf moving, and all nature seems hushed. ”

“ It seems as if heavy hailstones were rattling down, but they are only rain-drops which bear with them in falling the up-whirled dust and sand. Now the flashes are seen. One follows so quickly upon another that we are forced to close our dazzled, well-nigh blinded, eyes, and to follow the storm only by listening to the uninterrupted roll of the thunder. The downpour becomes a cloud-burst; from the hills the water rushes down everywhere in streams; in the hollows it forms lakes; in the valleys there are rivers in flood. ”

“ Dust drifts through closed doors and windows, and makes little heaps as snow does in a blizzard.
On ordinary windy days the dust is very trying, and the dread of wind spoils many an exquisite day, as the wicked habit it has of rising morning after morning before 11 o’clock stops many pleasant plans. Still, when compared with memories of fog and rain, cold and slush, on the other side of the Mediterranean, the gain is so great that the sand-storm is almost agreeable. ”

“ Rapidly this bears down upon us, increasing in size as it comes, till it reaches towards the zenith, blotting out the storm clouds, mountains, and plain with a pall as dense as a curtain. For those in the cloud the wind is burning hot [5] ; the fine dust covers the face, cakes the eyelashes and even the teeth. ”

“ Gradually the convulsions of the storm grow more violent and frequent; and although the sun is unable to pierce the thick dust clouds, and the shadow of the traveler is scarcely visible on the ground, yet so suffocating is the heat, that it seems to him as if the fiercest rays of the sun were scorching his brain. ”

“ In the forenoon the clouds begin to gather and pile up in dark billowy masses that end in showers during the afternoon and evening. But not every rain cloud brings rain. Clouds of this character often look very threatening, but all their display of thunder and lightning is only bluff and bluster and ends in a fizzle with no rain. After such a demonstration the clouds either bring wind and a disagreeable dust storm, or, if a little rain starts to fall, the air is so dry that it evaporates in mid air, and none of it ever reaches the earth. ”

“ The wind having spent itself in a final effort, suddenly subsides, and the dust is as speedily dispersed by torrents of rain, which in a very short time flood the whole country.’ This is the last agony of the storm; after which the temperature lowers and nature becomes more tranquil. ”

“ In a storm of dust raised by a whirlwind, in the most violent tempest that agitates the ocean, not a single molecule of dust or of water finds its place by chance; or is without an adequate cause for occupying the precise point where it is found. ”

“ The dust-storms, however, are the real tribulations which render life well-nigh unbearable. They frequently last many days at a time; the fine sand sifts through and into everything and is almost suffocating. ”

“ When the wind blows violently over the sea or land, it removes and carries off with it every thing that is not firmly fixed to the general mass. The clouds must appear straggling [Pg 76] and broken, carried according to the direction and the force of the wind, and blended with clouds of dust raised from the sandy shore. Branches and leaves of trees must be represented as carried along by the violence of the storm, and, together with numberless other light substances, scattered in the air. Trees and grass must be bent to the ground, as if yielding to the course of the wind. ”

“ Only the miners, a thousand feet below the surface, escape it. When the storm has subsided the entire city is covered with a blanket of dust ranging in thickness from an inch on the sidewalks to an eighth of an inch on the store counters, furniture, and in pantries. It has never been computed how great a quantity of the dust enters a man's lungs, but the feeling that it engenders is one of colossal magnitude. ”

“ Every bit of steam shrinks, when chilled, to a much more minute particle of water. The liquid particles thus produced form a kind of water dust of exceeding fineness, which floats in the air, and is called a cloud. ”

“ Again, since rain and cloud are checks upon such systems, we should expect the sandstorm systems to be larger and far loftier than thunderstorms, and to consist of far more violent atmospheric movements. This also is the case, and when we know that some of these disturbances have the dimensions of a cyclonic storm, it is easy to understand how the finest dust may be raised to vast altitudes, into the great upper currents of the air, by which it may be borne hundreds of miles before returning to the ground. ”

“ In a dust cloud drifting along the road, or a rain cloud along the horizon, the upper stratum is always in advance of the lower;and in the dust storms that prevail in the Punjaub, converting the light of noon into the darkness of midnight, the whole hemisphere is obscured long before the hurricane is felt below, the velocity of the wind being retarded by the resistance on the surface of the earth. ”

“ They are seen, especially in the autumn, sweeping along the roads and streets, raising columns of dust, leaves, &c., which rise up like inverted cones in the air, and gyrate about the centre or axis of the storm. ”

“ It is difficult to convey any idea of the strange effects of these dust-storms: day is changed to night, and nothing can exceed the temporary darkness produced by them, which I have known to last for a quarter of an hour in the middle of the day ”

“ Since our return we have been having dust-storms on an average of twice a week, big ones and little ones, lasting from a few hours to several days. There are two kinds: surface storms, when a tremendous wind blows dense clouds of fine, sharp dust along the streets and makes all outdoors intolerable ”

“ Birds—Kites and Vultures—are often seen soaring high up, just above these spouts, apparently following the direction of the column, as if enjoying it.
My idea is that the phenomena connected with dust-storms are identical with those present in waterspouts and white squalls at sea and revolving storms and tornadoes of all kinds; and that they originate from the same cause viz—moving columns of electricity. ”

“ Frequently they carry heavy clouds of dust far beyond desert boundaries into fertile regions. The Santa Ana of southern California is an example. Dust storms originating in the plains states sometimes carry their content as far east as the Mississippi. ”

“ The air has grown suddenly dark; the gloom becomes oppressive; and in the close heat it is almost possible to imagine a smell of sulphur. A flash of lightning, a rush of wind among the tree-tops, and a terrible crash of thunder just overhead! A moment’s silence, a sound as if all the pines were shaking their branches together, a deluging downpour of rain, and the storm has burst. The spirits of the air are abroad, and the evil genius of the place is awake in demoniac fury. ”

“ North-westerly gusts of wind raised clouds of dust, and drove it in eddying drifts across the plain, till a thunderstorm with a smart fall of rain cleared the atmosphere, and allowed the sun to shine out a while before setting for the day. ”

“ Then the thunder breaks forth, but its most awful peals are scarcely heard in the deep roar of the tempest; burst succeeds to burst, each more wild and furious than the former; the forked lightnings flash in vain, for the dust, which is as thick as snow, flings an impenetrable veil around them. ”

“ The sole motion was the occasional drift of a vapour-like film of white powder, which the wind would lift like dust from the snowy carpet that covered the street, and wafting it along for a few yards, drop again to its repose, till another stronger gust, prelusive of the wind about to rise at sun-down,—a wind cold and bitter as death—would rush over the street, and raise a denser cloud of the white water-dust to sting the face of any improbable person who might meet it in its passage. ”

“ Moisture into the clouds. And when therein
The seeds of water so many in many ways
Have come together, augmented from all sides,
The close-jammed clouds then struggle to discharge
Their rain-storms for a two-fold reason: lo,
The wind's force crowds them, and the very excess
Of storm-clouds (massed in a vaster throng)
Giveth an urge and pressure from above
And makes the rains out-pour. ”

“ Black clouds came creeping up all round the sky, which blotted out the moonlight and changed all that white foam into curdling ink, and with the coming of these clouds the wind began to rise, at first little and moaningly, like a child in pain, and then suddenly very loudly indeed, until it grew to a great storm, that brought with it sheets of the most merciless rain that I had then ever witnessed. ”

“ Nature appears to be listening in awful expectancy of the coming outburst: in another instant a dazzling flash of lightning is seen, followed by terrific rolls of thunder: a hurricane sweeps across the plains: sometimes uprooting massive trees in its course, and darkening the air with clouds of sand and dust: a deadly conflict seems to rage amongst the elements: the lightning is more brilliant: the crashes of the thunder more awful: yet the rain does not come. ”

“ A storm of summer has its redeeming sublimities,—its slow, upheaving mountains of cloud glooming in the western horizon like new-created volcanoes, veined with fire, shattered by exploding thunders. Even the wild gales of the equinox have their varieties,—sounds of wind-shaken woods and waters, creak and clatter of sign and casement, hurricane puffs, and down-rushing rain-spouts. But this dull, dark autumn day of thaw and rain, when the very clouds seem too spiritless and languid to storm outright or take themselves out of the way of fair weather ”

“ All day long there were signs of a gathering storm. Great big banks of fierce, sullen clouds began to bank up in the afternoon, and far-off, ominous sounds of thunder were heard. At first it was a mere growl, and the edges of the great jagged clouds were illumined by lightning. By-and-bye the thunder grew louder, and cruel forked and chain lightning began to play in the heavens.
The children wandered round the verandah and looked at the sky, and wondered and wondered again would it rain.
“I believe it’ll be the end of the drought,” said Mother, hopefully. ”

“ It rapidly approaches nearer and nearer, the clouds touching the lower hills, then down darts the forked lightning, followed by the roar of the thunder, and presently a wild rush of wind, as if it came from all quarters at once, tells us that the storm is upon us, and then comes the rain, in big heavy drops for a few seconds and soon in torrents, as if the sluice-gates of the clouds were opened. ”

“ When, beneath the vertical rays of the bright and cloudless sun of the tropics, the parched sward crumbles into dust, then the indurated soil cracks and bursts, as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. The hot and dusty earth forms a cloudy vail, which shrouds the heavens from view, and increases the stifling oppression of the atmosphere; while the east wind (i. e. trade-wind) , when it blows over the long heated soil, instead of cooling, adds to the burning glow. ”

“ Oh, into what fantastic shapes does the wind whirl the dust! how the dust-cloud runs along, rushes forward madly, stops and spins awhile, and tosses itself up, up, till it seems verily to fly; it ascends higher [197] and higher, it is carried above the tree-tops, it will reach the clouds of Heaven. ”

“ And as in considering the action of rain falling over a wide range of country, we have to distinguish between the slow but steady action of ordinary rains and the occasional violent action of great storms of rain, so in considering the effects of drought following after rain which has well saturated the land we have to distinguish between ordinarily dusty times and occasions when in a very short time, owing to the intensity of the heat and the violence of the wind large quantities of dust are spread over a wide area. ”

“ Now the storm is over, the sky is clear, the last rolling thunder-wave is spent on the peaks, and where are the raindrops now—what has become of all the shining throng? In winged vapor rising some are already hastening back to the sky, some have gone into the plants, creeping through invisible doors into the round rooms of cells, some are locked in crystals of ice, some in rock crystals, some in porous moraines to keep their small springs flowing, some have gone journeying on in the rivers to join the larger raindrop of the ocean. ”