Name: Dust Storm in Arizona, April 7, 2016
Start: 2016-04-07T14:00
End: 2016-04-07T16:00
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $30,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.

Low pressure off the southern California coast resulted in gusty southwest winds over southeast Arizona. The wind caused blowing dust from a recently cleared parcel of land adjacent to Interstate 10 in Cochise County to blow across the roadway causing near-zero visibility, a traffic accident and subsequent road closure.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 9:45 AM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 9:45 AM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
945 AM MST THU APR 7 2016

.SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE WILL BE ON THE INCREASE TODAY. A SERIES OF
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST AND WEST WILL
BRING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND COOLER TEMPERATURES LATER TODAY INTO
FRIDAY...THEN AGAIN SUNDAY...AND THEN AGAIN TUESDAY. WE'LL SEE GUSTY
WINDS AT TIMES AS WELL.

&&

.DISCUSSION...MOISTURE IS INCREASING FROM THE SOUTH WITH A SOLID JOB
AT MOISTENING FROM MID LEVELS DOWN. THE 12Z KTWC SOUNDING CAME IN
WITH 1/2 INCH...BUT 1 INCH VALUES ARE PUSHING UP FROM JUST SOUTH OF
THE BORDER. CIRA LPW TOTALS SUGGEST WE ARE UP TO ABOUT .65 NOW WITH
INCREASING CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE 850-700MB LAYER. WE SHOULD HIT .75
BY THIS AFTERNOON WITH HIGHER VALUES OVERNIGHT (OVER 200 PERCENT OF
NORMAL FOR APRIL). THE HIGHEST EVER APRIL PRECIPITABLE WATER
MEASUREMENT FROM A SOUNDING IS 1.07...NOT COMPLETELY OUT OF THE
QUESTION.

INITIAL SHOWER DEVELOPMENT WILL BE SLOW THIS AFTERNOON...BUT WE
SHOULD HAVE SOLID OROGRAPHIC ASSISTANCE. WE ISSUED AN UPDATE EARLIER
THAT BUMPED UP PRECIP CHANCES IN GENERAL AND RAMPED UP THE MOUNTAIN
QPF VALUES. IT'S GOING TO BE AN INTERESTING WEEK. PLEASE SEE THE
PREVIOUS DISCUSSION BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

&&

.AVIATION...VALID THRU 08/18Z.
INCREASING MID AND HIGH CLOUD THROUGH MORNING HOURS...THEN SCT-BKN
CLOUDS AT 4-9K FT AGL AND BKN-OVC CLOUDS AT 9-13K FT AGL SPREADING
UP FROM THE SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON. ISOLD -SHRA POSSIBLE AFTER
07/20Z...WITH SCT SHRA AND ISOLD TSRA AREA-WIDE AFT 07/22Z.
INCREASING SURFACE WINDS...BECOMING GUSTY SLY/SWLY BY THIS
AFTERNOON. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE APPROACHING FROM THE
SOUTHWEST WILL RESULT IN GUSTY SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS TODAY...BUT
THE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW CRITICAL THRESHOLDS. A CHANCE
OF SHOWERS WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN AREAS THIS AFTERNOON...WITH MORE
WIDESPREAD SHOWER ACTIVITY DEVELOPING AREA-WIDE TONIGHT AND THEN
CONTINUING INTO FRIDAY. SOME ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AS
WELL. DRY CONDITIONS BRIEFLY RETURN SATURDAY WITH SOME AFTERNOON
BREEZES. A SERIES OF STORM SYSTEMS WILL THEN MOVE ACROSS THE STATE
LATE IN THE WEEKEND THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...RESULTING IN BELOW
NORMAL DAYTIME TEMPERATURES...A CHANCE OF SHOWERS...AND SOME
BREEZINESS AT TIMES.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION....SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS WILL BE BREAKING OUT THIS
AFTERNOON WEST AND SOUTH OF TUCSON WITH COVERAGE INCREASING TONIGHT.
SCATTERED SHOWERS FRIDAY THEN DECREASING FRIDAY NIGHT AS DYNAMICS
MOVES AWAY FROM THE AREA AS ANOTHER UPPER LOW SETTLES IN OFF SRN CA
COAST. IT WILL BE DRY ON SATURDAY AND THEN ANOTHER ROUND OF
SCATTERED SHOWERS SUNDAY AS THE ABOVE MENTIONED SRN CA LOW MOVES
ACROSS THE STATE. UNSETTLED WEATHER TO CONTINUE MONDAY NIGHT INTO
TUESDAY THEN DRY WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. ANOTHER STORM IS PROGGED BY
THE MODELS TO IMPACT THE AREA NEXT FRIDAY. SO LETS ENJOY THIS WET
PERIOD AS THE AREA SURE CAN USE THE RAINFALL. HIGHS ABOVE NORMAL
TODAY AND SATURDAY...NEAR NORMAL FRIDAY AND THEN BELOW NORMAL SUNDAY
AND MOST OF THE NEW WORK WEEK.

&&

.TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

MEYER

VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...YOUTUBE...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Dust Storm, Eastern Cochise County Below 5000 Feet

When: April 7, 2:00 PM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Eastern Cochise County Below 5000 Feet forecast zone
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 31.880, -109.751 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Southwest winds gusting up to 30 mph blew dust from an non-maintained parcel of land adjacent to Interstate 10 across the roadway causing near-zero visibility during the afternoon hours. The result was a two vehicle accident near Mile Post 376, about 15 miles west of the New Mexico/Arizona state line. Sixty miles of interstate were closed for about 2 hours due to both blowing dust to the collision.

What these are

Dust Storm: Blowing dust that reduced visibility to a quarter mile or less.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2016 Every state in 2016 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, April 2016

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 632593.