r/phoenix • u/DragonflyKey4972 • 1d ago

Ask Phoenix Serious hives after monsoon

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.

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u/jhairehmyah 1d ago

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.

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u/HanTanSanTan 1d ago

Haha and my pet peeve is calling a dust storm in Phoenix a “haboob” 🤣

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u/Ms_desertfrog_8261 1d ago

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.

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u/jhairehmyah 1d ago

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.

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u/HanTanSanTan 1d ago

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.

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u/No_Sun_No_Star 1d ago

I'm not a weatherologist so I don't know the difference between a dust storm and a haboob, but I'm pretty sure the term came into general parlance by GWOT and OIF vets bringing the term for the wall-of-dust weather phenomenon in the Middle East to describe the same thing here.

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u/HanTanSanTan 1d ago

From what I read online the term was first mentioned by scientists in the 70s who noticed the similarities between storms in the middle east and in Arizona. But it was a news organization in 2011 that made it catch on with the general public.

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u/DragonflyKey4972 1d ago

Yes, I remember dust storms (born and raised her and GenXer) and they did not come in like a wall like this. They were more dispersed.

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u/Not_me_no_way 1d ago

You must not have been paying very close attention because I remember distinctly at 4 years old seeing a wall of dust coming out way and being absolutely terrified thinking we were going to die. I am also a Gen X born and raised and have seen plenty of these throughout my lifetime the majority were before 2011 before the term became popular.

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u/DragonflyKey4972 1h ago

My mom (80 years old) said she doesn't remember them either. We lived in the middle of Scottsdale in the desert. So, I dunno. Of course, we never really paid attention to anything. Ever. It's amazing we could drive, etc.

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u/Not_me_no_way 1d ago

No it's not just quit. A haboob is an Arabic word that translates to "violent storm".

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u/MrKrinkle151 1d ago

Lots of names of things come from words in other languages