So long it’s been good to know you, were the opening lines of one of Woody Guthrie’s most famous songs.  And for any who listened, it wasn’t a jolly song of leave-taking.  It was about a massive dust storm that “It dusted us over, an’ it covered us under; Blocked out the traffic an’ blocked out the sun,.”  Seem like we’re back at it, letting our  bad practices overwhelm the balance of nature.  This month it’s in Arizona.

A 2-mile high, 50-mile wide Dust Storm enveloped Phoenix yesterday.  Tonight, on NBC (video here), Brian Williams called it “The Dust Storm that Swallowed Up an American City.”

Back in April, the USGS released a report on Dust-Bowlification that concluded drier conditions were projected to accelerate dust storms in the U.S. Southwest.  In large parts of Texas and Oklahoma now,  the drought is more intense than it was during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

In 2007, Science (subs. req’d) published research that “predicted a permanent drought by 2050 throughout the Southwest” — levels of aridity comparable to the 1930s Dust Bowl would stretch from Kansas to California.  Last year, a comprehensive literature review, “Drought under global warming: a review,” by NCAR found that we risk multiple, devastating global droughts worse than the Dust Bowl even on moderate emissions path.  Another study found the U.S. southwest could see a 60-year drought this century.

So the monster dust storm — a haboob — that hit Phoenix is just the shape of things to come for the entire Southwest.

Here are more videos, via the Atlantic Wire:

Climate Progress

Print PDF