Striking footage showing a dust storm sweeping across a part of Mexico has been shared by CIRA (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere).
The dramatic clip, which plays at faster-than-normal speed, shows the enormous cloud of dust moving across the land like a huge wave of water. After watching it, Colorado-based scientist Dakota Smith described the recent weather event as “an all-timer.”
The CIMSS Satellite Blog — an educational and informational site operated by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies — reported on the event last week, explaining how strong winds in the wake of a cold front had lofted areas of dust across parts of southern New Mexico, southwestern Texas and northern Mexico.
“The peak wind gust at El Paso, Texas was 50 kts (58 mph), and blowing dust reduced the visibility to 1/4 mile at Carlsbad, New Mexico,” the report said, adding that “the leading edge of the blowing dust was moving at speeds up to 35 kts across northern Mexico.”
The footage was captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-18 (GOES-18), which launched to orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2022. NOAA debuted the satellite’s first hi-res imagery soon after its deployment.
GOES-18 is part of a network of satellites that enable meteorologists to accurately monitor and forecast local weather events that impact public safety, among them thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, fog, flash floods, and — you got it — dust storms. It also detects and monitors environmental hazards, such as wildfires and volcanic eruptions.
The GOES-19 satellite was built by Lockheed Martin and cover a vast area that includes the U.S. West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean.
The advanced technology carried by the GOES-18 satellite enables information on severe weather events to be sent to NOAA’s Satellite Operations Facility in Maryland every 30 seconds, where it can be quickly analyzed.
Media outlets like The Weather Channel and AccuWeather also use GOES satellite imagery in their forecasts.