A cold front swept dust from western Texas over Dallas-Fort Worth on Tuesday, briefly turning skies orange and causing flight delays.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dallas-Fort Worth’s sky turned dark orange Tuesday, as a cold front blew dust from western Texas through the metroplex.
The haze lingered over most cities for less than an hour before it moved southeast, unveiling sunny skies.
Though fleeting, the dusty front contributed to delays at DFW and Love Field airports. The pollution also irritated some residents’ sinuses, compounding seasonal allergy symptoms.
“While it has happened before, it’s been a long time,” National Weather Service Fort Worth meteorologist Jennifer Dunn said. “It’s kind of a little rare that it happens at a magnitude like this.”
Dunn explained that ongoing drought in western Texas has dried out that region’s soil, making it light enough for wind to sweep up and carry. Tuesday’s wind blew hard enough to collect dirt particles from the Panhandle, West Texas, and Big Country and spread them across the Lone Star State.
“The strong winds today were probably some of the strongest we’ve had without a thunderstorm in a very long time,” Dunn said.
The same conditions increase the risk for destructive wildfires, which is why On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott boosted the readiness level of the Texas State Emergency Operations Center.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth is not calling the dusty front a “haboob,” a term typically reserved for walls of dust that stretch from the surface to the sky formed during a thunderstorm’s collapse.
Despite the Martian skies, Dunn said the dust moved too fast and too high to thoroughly coat vehicles and buildings in a layer of grime.
“It kind of kept moving,” she said. “We might not have as much dust settling in the North Texas area as may happen in East and Southeast Texas.”
It’s not yet clear where and wind the dust will settle, though winds calmed Tuesday evening. The same front also moved through Austin and San Antonio on Tuesday, painting skies all over Texas orange.
