Living in a desert creates unique opportunities for getting amazing nature photographs. For example, where else will you find a haboob? No, I didn't sneeze; people say "dust storm" or "sand storm", but "haboob" is the correct word, coming from the Arabic word هَبوب habūb. While they look scary (it's a huge wall of dust swallowing a city), they're pretty common since haboobs around here form when thunderstorms collapse, creating down/outwards bursts of wind. So, these happen multiple times on an annual basis during our monsoon season (aren't deserts so exotic with their nomenclature?).
On this particular day, June 4th 2015, I decided to take a hike up to the summit of Piestewa Peak because of the nice weather and because I wanted to snap some pictures of the sunset. At the time, it was just very cloudy; I thought the clouds would make for a striking sunset. And indeed, the clouds created a streak effect with the sun's lighting, like the Arizona flag. How apt. However, as I started my ascent, I noticed dust forming behind the city.
I wondered if a haboob was coming our way, since the amount of dust I saw was way more than the normal amount in the air. Sure enough, the cloud got larger and kept getting closer to the city. Meanwhile, the sky kept the sunstreaks, allowing me to take more photos of it, as well as take some striking photos of the Phoenix Mountains. It always amazes me that pieces of wilderness such as these mountains can still exist while surrounded by a city. It always makes me sad seeing houses built on the mountains since it means more and more of this beautiful desert landscape is disappearing.
It was not long after I first saw the dust that the storm engulfed the central city. This was definitely not a severe haboob since we could still see (the worst it can get is less than a foot of visibility, although that severity is rare; usually visibility is several yards).
Winds were picking up, and everyone at the summit had to be careful because gusts were strong enough to blow us off balance; falling off a mountain is not ideal. The dust kept moving northwards, creating some striking images. Here, the "wall of dust" image became clearer since we were nearly in profile with the mini-haboob. In addition, the dust gave the sun's rays something to reflect off of and be blocked by, further enhancing the sun streaks to beautiful lengths. It'amazing seeing nature's beauty, and how even in the middle of a city we can still witness it.
Meanwhile, facing the other side of the mountain away from the storm, nature was still being awesome. The clouds had grown extremely dark and menacing from the lack of light, and a double rainbow appeared, with the brighter parts corresponding to where the sun could sneak past the clouds and dust. Later on, the sky even began turning two distinct colors (no, I did not change the colors in the third photo, the sky really did look like that). There were also some very interesting cloud formations, including the 4th photo which I thought looked kind of like a spaceship.
Eventually, the dust rolled through, leaving the clouds behind. As the sun got lower, the streak effect became even more pronounced as the light rays were now more angled towards me and also having to go through the remaining dust in the air. I loved how the streaks looked.
Finally, with the sun reaching the horizon and the dust settling, the main event started, with the brilliant oranges and reds of the desert sunset coming out. The sun set quickly and soon disappeared behind the mountains.
One last look of the beautiful sky, before the sun disappeared and I headed back down the mountain in the rapidly approaching darkness.
I love the desert.
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