Sand Storm in Iraq: April 26, 2005

Rated by AuntieEmsCorner on Sep 28, 7:49am

Holy moly! Thats so powerful, I just can't imagine being in the middle of it!

Reviewed by thulhuguu on Sep 11, 8:21pm

Wow. That's an impressive storm.

Rated by THMike on Sep 09, 9:05am

Great photos. Scary storm.

Rated by TheFeldster on Aug 21, 12:57am

Woah. Wouldn't wanna be stuck in the desert during that baby!

Rated by BrianH1988 on Aug 16, 9:00am

Wow. That's so giant. If what Ericruam says is true, then that's a very rare occurance. But then again, you've got to consider that Kuwait is due south of most of Iraq, and that their weather patterns may be slightly different, depending on where this was shot. If you don't believe me, take a look at what I'm about to say: I live in South Dakota. East-river (east of the Missouri) weather is significantly different than it is on the west side. Iraq has the major river cutting the country not-so-neatly in half, one of the so-called biblical rivers. I would imagine the climate on one side is significantly different than the other. So while the situation is in a different climate zone, I'd imagine it was actually quite similar, where one side will have significantly different weather. If you haven't gotten the point yet, there's a good possibility they may be more (or less) commonplace in that area than they are in a smaller country like Kuwait (which last time I checked, is bordered by rivers). For those who don't know, sandstorms are made by the wind. Sand is very loose, and this will often happen if the wind speed gets high enough. We have something similar that'll happen over here (though not as often, and mostly in the country) called dust devils. Some people confuse these with tornadoes, but they are actually more similar to a sandstorm. I've seen one before, things can get pretty gnarly when they occur (having cousins in the country means I get to see both sides of the coin around here).

Reviewed by ericraum on Aug 09, 3:20pm

I live in Kuwait. We get sandstorms pretty consistently, almost daily during the summer. One of this magnitude is only every once and a while though, and you honestly can not see your own hand in front of your face. It is really something else.