114 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW APRIL 1933
Sration Surface
Albuquerque, N.Mex ._..__.. ......._____ NW-2 El PSSO, Tex __....__._..........--..---. SW-9 Big Springs, Tex ._._..........__..__--.. S-1 Brownsrille. Tex. .__.......__.___
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__._._ SW-1 Houston. Tes ......_........._.__________ NW-I P n l l a s , Tex .._.__.__........___----.----. W-7 Jackson. Miss ...____..___._______-.-.-.. SW-4 New Orleans, La ______..._..______._.... SE-1
was flown a t appro.ximately 500 feet, taking advantage
of moderate northeast winds, from Abilene to Guadalupe Pass, with the visibility averaging 2 miles, until reaching Guadalupe Field (20 miles east of Guadalupe Pass) where
there was a change within 1 n d e from a visibility of 2
miles to 60 miles north, south, and west. Guadalupe
Field was reached just a t dawn. Pilot Rockwood, flying the Dallas-Kansas City section
of the Dallas-Chicago route, departed from Dallas 31
p.m. with the surface visibility 10 miles, while a t an alti-
tude of 500 feet he found it to be less than l)h miles. The
base of the dust was fairly sharp at this elevation. Within
15 minutes he was forced back to Dallas after encounter- ing an unusually heavy wave of dust which he described
as a “white wall of something that looked like fog”, and
was within one-half mile of the Dallas airport before being able to see the lights from a height of 500 feet.
At 4 a.m. the following morning Pilot Rockwood again
departed from Dallas in an endeavor to complete his schedule. He pulled up to an altitude of 1,000 feet flying in the dust, which had somewhat diminished, with
a visibility of from 2 to 3 miles to Fort Worth. From Fort Worth to the Red River he flew at 800 feet with a visibility of about 2 miles but, after crossing the Red
River Valley, i t became unlimited uithin a distance of 3
miles. No definite base of the dust was noticed on this flight.
J. A. Riley points out that one distinct type of Tesas duststorm is caused by strong winds blowing across the plains of Texas, sometimes attaining gale force, over a
wide area and picking up large quantities of dust. This
1,000 M. ?,OW M. 3,000 M.
WSW-4 w-7 ___ -. -- --- W-18 NW-16 W-19 WNW-3 WSW-12 W-20 SE-8 NW-2 SSW-16 WSW-10 WSW-11 W-22 WNW-10 WNW-13 W-14 SW-8 W-18 W-29 SW-8 NW-18 WSW-29
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would account for the duststorm under consideration
except for the fact that the color and fineness of the dust, together with good surface visibility, would indicate that all, or practically all, of it originated somewhere to the west of Texas.
G. M. French, of the Weather Bureau Airport Station
at Burbank, Calif., states that-
there were two periods previous to the night of the 24th and 25th of March when strong to gale force surface winds occurred in many localities from eastern California to New Mexico including southern Nevada and southern Utah. One period waa on the 21st and morning of 22nd and the other, more severe on the 23rd. There are a number of places in eastern dalifornia, the southern portions of Nevada and Utah, and in Arizona where dry lakes are composed of alkali, and during windy weather a fine white dust is picked up over these dry lakes.
It would seem from the foregoing that this dust was
transported aloft by strong to gale force westerly winds
after being picked up in small quantities over dry “alkali lakes” in the region between the Sierras and the southern
Rockies and, after crossing the Rockies, more alkali was raised, by locally severe surface winds, from New Mexico
and, eventually, upon reaching the Llano Estacado of Texas probably a last reinforcement of white alkali was
received from the several dry alkali lakes in this area.
3 s this dust was borne aloft into Central and North Texas (over descending topography, which would be a
factor in maintaining good surface visibility) it was allowed gradually t,o descend to the ground with the
veering of the surface winds, which, seemingly, grasped it from the overrunning dust-laden westerlies.
10 St. Cu. SE .__..____
Few C.i. St. \V .._.____
10 St. E __...._.._.._._
10 Lt. Fog E .._._._.__
1 A. St. W ......______
2st. CU.8 -_..-__-____
6 A .S t . W _..._.._____
4 St. CU. BW ___..___._
1 c u . s __._....._____ __
9 A. St. SW ._..._.____
2Cu.S .--....-....---.
4 Sandstorms in Texas, hfONTHLY WEATEER REVIEW, January 1931, vol. 59, p. 30.
0 St. Cu. SE -..... S A. Cu. S’A ..-... 6 A. St. W ._._____
4 St. Cu. SE _.__._
10 St. Cu. SW. __.
4 A .6 t . W _______. 6 6t. CU. SW-. ____
2 s t . c u . 8W ___--
S A . St. SW _______ 7 A. St. SW ___.___
2Cu.S .--.-...... 3 A .C u .S .-....--
__ -.-..._.._._.__ _-.
HAZE CONDITION AT NEW ORLEANS, LA., MAY 5-9,1933
By GEORQE L. CANADAY
[Weather Bureau, New Orleans, La.]
10% Cu. 3 .._.___
Few A.Cu. SW..
8 St. Cu. SE .___._
9 A . St. SW ___.___
1 s t . c u . sw. ____ 10A.St.SW ______
a A. st. sw __...._
The strange appearance of the sun and moon over New
Orleans from May 5 to May 9, 1933, due to an unusually large amount of dust particles in the air, caused a great
deal of interest among the residents of that city and
resulted in the Weather Bureau answering nunierous requests for an explanation of the phenomenon.
The sun, as well as the moon a t night, assumed the
appearance of a reddish disk. The reflected sunlight was of a mellow, golden color, particularly at dawn and in the
late afternoon. Individuals were able to look directly a t the rising or sinking sun, without injury to their eyes, the
sun gleanling through the haze as a great red ball. At least one person was heard to confuse the setting sun with
the moon, commenting on the enlarged appearance of the
moon. The Weather Bureau first observed a light haze over
New Orleans during the night of May 5. The haze con- tinued without a break until the night of May 9, varying
from light to moderate and a t times becoming almost dense. The gathering dust particles interecepted the
shorter wave lengths of the sun’s light and permitted the
longer wave lengths to predominate in reaching the earth’s surface, thereby causing the reddish glow of the sun and the golden sunlight.
Table 1, pre ared from a typical upper-air map during the haze periocf illustrates the strong westerly winds that prevailed. These hi h winds aloft probably were respon-
picked up the dust particles from more elevated, arid
regions of the southwestern part of the United States
and transported them eastward. The haze condition ended almost simultaneously with the shift of winds from
a westerly to a more southerly direction.
sible for the unusua K occurrence a t New Orleans, having
T 28
T 98
______
_I__._
0 77
0 MI
T 47
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Data
May 4 5
6
7
8
9
10
I-I-