When this haboob (from the Arabic for "violent storm") swallowed much of metropolitan Phoenix in August 2018, it marked the third such extreme weather event of the season. While these sandstorms are not uncommon during the Southwest's monsoon period, meteorologists say they are exacerbated by drought—and Arizona is in the midst of the worst drought in more than a century of record keeping. According to the National Weather Service, mega dust storms are the leading cause of weather-related injuries in Arizona.

This article appeared in the January/February 2019 edition with the headline "An Ill Wind."