By John Hanna
Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. 鈥� A gust of wind sweeps over bare soil, kicking up enough dirt and dust to cut visibility to nearly zero, and for drivers, the dust storm seems to come out of nowhere.
Such conditions resulted in a pileup on Interstate 70 last week in western Kansas involving dozens of cars and trucks that . Blinding dust on Tuesday also prompted New Mexico鈥檚 transportation department to of highway from the Arizona state line to the outskirts of Las Cruces.
Hazy or dust-darkened skies have recalled the 鈥淒ust Bowl鈥� of the 1930s, when millions of tons of blowing soil buried farms and coated towns across the Great Plains. Lesser storms occur every year, particularly in the western U.S., particularly when farmland hasn鈥檛 been planted yet in the spring. Some scientists worry that many motorists don鈥檛 take them seriously enough.
鈥淲e have a very low level of public awareness of a dust storm and what damage it can cause,鈥� said Daniel Tong, an associate professor of atmospheric chemistry at George Mason University who is among the authors of a 2023 paper on dust storm deaths.
Dust storms have a history of causing fatalities
The High Plains Museum in Goodland displays a photo of a tractor buried in blown soil in the 1930s, a reminder of the consequences of a severe drought across the Great Plains that came after farming had destroyed native grasses.
The fatalities Friday near Goodland were the first in the area in a dust storm since 2014, said Jeremy Martin, the Weather Service meteorologist in charge there.
But they came less than a month after an 11-car pileup on I-10 left three people dead, with heavy dust cited as a factor, according Similarly, a dust storm on I-55 between St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois, in 2023 led to involving dozens of vehicles.
In 1991, 17 people died in an accident involving more than 100 vehicles on I-5 in California鈥檚 San Joaquin Valley, blamed on blowing dust.
Tong and four co-authors concluded in their paper published in 2023 in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that there were from 鈥渨indblown dust events鈥� from 2007 through 2017, far higher than the number recorded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association data.
he and four colleagues concluded that the economic damaged caused by wind erosion and dust is four times higher than previously calculated and more than $154 billion a year.
A cold front carried dust through western Kansas
Martin said a cold front moved through the area of the pileup after it had been warm and dry for six hours. Winds that reached 70 miles per hour (113 kph) kicked up dust that then became trapped in the cold front.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when you get that classic wall of dust,鈥� he said.
As blowing dust cut visibility on the road to almost zero, drivers slowed down, causing collisions, authorities said.
A preliminary investigation found that 71 vehicles were involved, said Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April McCollum. Aerial photos showed at least 10 were semis.
鈥淚t was hard to even keep your eyes open outside because there was so much dust in the air,鈥� said Jeremy Martin, the National Weather Service meteorologist in charge in Goodland. 鈥淚t kind of stung to even breathe out in it.鈥�
Similar conditions in eastern Colorado prompted the Colorado State Patrol to warn drivers: 鈥淶ero visibility due to high winds and blowing dirt.鈥�
鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 see,鈥� said Jerry Burkhart, the fire and emergency services chief in Lamar, Colorado. 鈥淭he best thing to do is get way off the road in a parking lot or something like that.鈥�
A lack of visibility is not the only problem
Martin said it鈥檚 hard to tell how thick dust is from a distance, so motorists often don鈥檛 know they won鈥檛 able to see until they鈥檙e in it.
Weather Service forecasters also said some of the advice for motorists in a dust storm is counter-intuitive. Michael Anand, a NWS meteorologist in Albuquerque, said motorists should pull off the road as safely as possible, turn off all lights and never use their high beams.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want people behind you to think you鈥檙e going in the road,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭hat light from your tail light might be the only thing they can see. They鈥檙e thinking the road suddenly curves.鈥�
High winds make cars harder to control, and a dust storm coats the road with fine particles that slow breaking, and drivers panic, Tong said.
He said dust storms are frequent and widespread enough across the U.S. that states should test prospective drivers on what to do in a dust storm on license exams.
鈥淭hat could be, actually, a very easy way to educate drivers,鈥� he said.
