Here’s why the Maricopa sky looked so hazy today

Was your drive to work looking a little hazy this morning?

While we can’t yet blame haboobs from our soon-to-come (we’re told) monsoon season, the National Weather Service said a 200-mile dust storm to our southeast is the culprit.

“This is the remnants of a dust storm that traversed parts of Mexico and New Mexico last night, resulting in hazy skies over the Phoenix metro this morning,” NWS posted on X , formerly Twitter.

Severe thunderstorms in central New Mexico created an unusually gigantic storm that engulfed the state, resulting in dangerously low visibility and a 23-vehicle collision on Interstate 25 north of Albuquerque that hospitalized 18 people.

Maricopa residents can expect more dust in the wind today. NWS issued an air quality alert and a blowing dust advisory on top of an ongoing excessive heat warning for Pinal County until 8 p.m.

Gusty winds and blowing dust are anticipated to begin around 3 p.m., reaching speeds up to 30 miles per hour.

Local NWS Meteorologist Brian Worley said the alerts are partially related to yesterday’s storm.

“The air quality alert was issued as a result of the dust,” he said. “However, we are expecting to see more blowing dust this evening. We are going to see some showers and thunderstorm activity this evening, which may generate more blowing dust.”

Weather experts anticipate a 20 to 60% chance of storms this weekend, with the strongest probability on Sunday. Worley said this is a good indication of the start of the wet season, but he’s unsure if it’s a fluke or the trappings of a monsoon pattern.

“Right now, it’s a little tough to determine if we’ll see daily rain, but it is an early start and it is a good push of monsoon moisture,” he said.

This post Here’s why the Maricopa sky looked so hazy today appeared first on InMaricopa .