El Paso Blowing Dust February 4, 2008

• Satellite Animation - GOES
• Satellite Animation - MODIS
• Satellite - Comparison 4th vs 6th
• Webcam Animation - Chelsea
• Webcam Animation - Ranger Peak
• Webcam Panaroma from Ranger Peak 2:00 p.m.
• Webcam Panaroma from Ranger Peak 2:30 p.m.
• GOES Visible-Infrared Composite
• Satellite Image 10:02 am MST - West Texas False Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 10:32 am MST - West Texas True Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 12:48 pm MST - West Texas False Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 1:45 pm MST - West Texas True Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 4:46 pm MST - West Texas False Color (from UT CSR)
• Satellite Image 1:57 pm MST - El Paso True Color (from UW SSEC)

Strong gusty southwest winds caused blowing dust in parts of northern Mexico, southern New Mexico, and far West Texas on Monday, February 4th.   Wind gusts as high as 59 miles per hour were reported at Fort Bliss in El Paso.   The high winds generated numerous large dust plumes in northern Mexico that merged into a large dust cloud that swept into El Paso in the afternoon. 

The highest measured daily average PM10 concentration in El Paso County was 107 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³) at the UTEP Continuous Ambient Monitoring Station (CAMS) 12 and rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale.   The highest measured PM10 hourly average was 791 µg/m³ at Socorro CAMS 49 for the hour from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST).   The visibility measured at Chamizal CAMS 41 dropped as low as 1.4 mile at 4:35 p.m. MST.   The visibility measured at Guadalupe Mountains CAMS 5018 dropped as low as 3.8 miles at 8:40 p.m. CST, indicating that the blowing dust reached as far east as the Guadalupe Mountains.