I broke out in major hives (massive welts all over, even around my eyes) after the haboob last night. It started getting better today, then it rained a little tonight and- hives again. I got some rainwater on me last night, but showered this morning. Anyone else getting hives? Dunno if it's the dust that preceded (though I was indoors), or the water, or a coincidence.
There will be a rise in Valley Fever, too. Keep an eye on your dogs for signs, too. But this can take a month or a year...VF sucks bad for dogs. Deadly.
I got hives, but I also am so allergic to desert plants that I need immunotherapy so I’m not sure if I should be a part of the general sample size. All those particles in the air from being blown about can really give a lousy reaction. Go to the Dr if you have breathing trouble or the hives don’t go away after limiting exposure. But yeah, I was an itchy burning mess yesterday
First of all, pet peeve here, the weather was not a “monsoon.” Monsoon is a word to describe seasonal changes in winds that impacts weather patterns, in our case drawing tropical moisture into the desert. The moisture causes thunderstorms and dust storms, including yesterday. The wall of dust is called a haboob.
Yes, the dust does carry fungi and pollen and it could’ve caused a reaction when making contact with it via rain water or via your respiratory system. An illness known as valley fever is caused by a desert fungus in your lungs.
That said, go see a doctor. It is much more likely a coincidence but most allergic reactions like that won’t be figured out and just treated with medicine. Reddit isn’t going to diagnose you. A doctor will.
Not every dust storm is an haboob, but haboobs are a real thing. They are different than our normal, everyday dust storms we get here. Last night’s local news (KOLD) gave a really good explanation of what an haboob is, and how it is formed. Also, the weather (rain, overcast) we are getting right now is coming from tropical systems in the eastern Atlantic, so not monsoon activity.
Yes, haboobs are definitely a real thing, but referring to certain types of dust storms in Phoenix as such is a recent phenomenon. It isn't like they suddenly started forming differently in 2011 when it started being used in a more wide-spread manner. There were just some scientists in years past that noticed similarities between certain dust storms we get here and the ones that are formed in the middle east. Haboob is just the Arabic term for "blowing furiously". It would be like people in the middle east using the English term "dust storm" to refer to the storms they get there because it kinda sounds cool and smart.
But again, just a pet peeve. Most people I hear use the term "haboob" to refer to every storm during the monsoon season, no matter how they are formed, so eventually it will lose its specific meaning anyway.
The monsoonal wind change draws moisture from the tropical Eastern Pacific. Sometimes decayed tropical systems are drawn up with it.
To call rain from a plume of moisture from former tropical system not monsoonal when the monsoon winds is what drew it into the desert is failing to understand what the monsoonal winds are, and how they impact our weather.
Nearly every year a former tropical system contributes a lot of moisture to our monsoon season rainfall totals.
Yeah I think it took because people think it makes them look smart because it feels like a more technical term or something. But it is almost akin to calling a hurricane a typhoon - same or similar weather event that is called something different based on location. Last I checked we do not live in Africa or the Middle East, nor do we predominantly speak Arabic.
And I think news organizations like to use it, especially on social media, because it riles people up and drives engagement 😆
It follows the growth of the internet almost perfectly ... which also coincided with the "War on Terror" ... so it's hard to say which should get credit. But it entered modern parlance in WWI when T.E. Lawrence described a storm like that around the same time there was a newsworthy one in Arizona.
I’m also very with you on this. I remember the word first being used to describe a wall of dust in about 2006, but at least it is a borrowed word that described properly what we experience and not a misuse of a word like calling any summer rain a “monsoon”.
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u/lolas_coffee 6h ago
The haboob whips up all the dirt and allergens.
There will be a rise in Valley Fever, too. Keep an eye on your dogs for signs, too. But this can take a month or a year...VF sucks bad for dogs. Deadly.