It’s a Haboob, Y’all
Okay, so there was a dust storm out in west Texas and one of them there college-educated meteorologists called it by its proper name – a haboob.
Oh hell, Honey, west Texas came apart at the seams, and started slinging snot ever which way.
Duck! Darlin’, what came next is an electric haboob with rolling switchblades and a dozen underfed alligators. What the hell has this kid done with the King’s English?
And —
I’m wondering what they use for counting out in west Texas? Because it certainly wouldn’t be Arabic numerals, right? None of that there fancy algebra either.
Some smarty-pants pointed that that Texas is a foreign word.
Plus, I think haboob is kinda fun to say.
Thanks to Kary for the heads up.
Kinda surprised any of them are upset about getting to say “boob” in public now.
1I looked it up. It seems to this layman that dust storms are named after their cause. Gradient dust storms are caused by high winds over a large area. Dust storms caused by down bursts during severe thunderstorm development are called haboobs. It would appear that the meteorologists were using the proper meteorological term.
2I like “haboob” too – and it makes me think of “half boob” and sort of reminds me of all awesome powerful pack-a-whollap ladies I know who’ve gone thru a mastectomy or two.
*sigh* my brain does weird things sometimes.
3Juanita, what r u doing in that God forsaken state?
4Talk to folks in Arizona … they have haboobs all the time out there! Evidently no one watches the News ’cause AZ haboobs have been shown any number of times! And to see one coming looks to be quite frightening … I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be in the path of one!!
5I wonder if there is an Arabic term for “raining mud”? Because that’s what happens up in the Lubbock area when a haboob and a rain storm occur at the same time. I’ve been through a couple of them—plays hell with a car’s finish and whatever clothing you’re wearing at the time……
6Hey, nice Haboobs!
7Steve, I wonder if there is an Arabic term “for raving mad” which would aptly describe the boobs who having hissies about a word. Soon, maybe we can soon salute our lessers instead of “hi”, it would be PC to say “Ha! Boob!”
8We called all big brown clouds of dust “Dust Storms” when I was a kid–no distinction between causes. Hence “Dust Bowl.” But since meteorologists have taxonomy just like biologists, if they feel the need to distinguish between gradient storms and thunderstorm downbursts, then (as also a native Texan who has 65 year memories of dust storms/haboobs) I’m fine with calling one of the two a haboob.
My mother and I (I was either five or seven–don’t remember which) were in a haboob that turned into a rain of mud up near Brownwood TX one time. If the rain is heavy enough, the mud-fall part doesn’t last that long, but no windshield wipers available in the early 1950s could deal with it. Yet the ditch beside the road was soon running with water and there was no paved shoulder. Finally the rain triumphed as far as the windshield was concerned but the road was slick as anything. It was one of those times my mother said “Don’t talk” so she could concentrate on the driving.
9First they came for our weather, Sharia Weather, then…
10The word ‘barf’ is ancient Persian vocabulary word. In Persian (Farsi) – barf means snow. Psst! The expression ‘nim rod’ is yet another. In Persian it means “half a river.” The name “Iran” was titled so by ancient Greeks who named the country (known as Fars which is why the language is called Farsi) as such because “Iran = Iranian” means Aryan…because that is what they are. The list goes on.
11You might want to remind those climate change deniers that no matter what they’re called, we never used to have so many of them. And they weren’t that intense. Ask those deniers why that might be.
12I guess they also don’t want to use the word “derecho” because it looks Mexican. Don’t tell them we got “hurricane” from the Carib Indians before they were nearly wiped out.
What a bunch of haboobs.
13I’ve met some real boobs from the panhandle but not one habood.
14My sister lives in Scottsdale, AZ; they are called haboobs by all those ‘Mexicans’ and other Arizonans as well~Sheesh
There are so many special snowflakes in my home state.
15The same thing happened in the Metro Phoenix area a couple of years ago when the local weather folks called them a Haboob instead of a dust storm. The group of people who claim that they are not “politically correct” let crapola hit the fan because they don’t consider Haboob to be the politically correct term to use out here where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.
16Micr, I’m with you, man! Texas snacilbupeR are a bunch ha-ha-not so funny boobs.
Go BLUE Texas! Wendy Davis for US Senator in 2017 or sooner. That louse Loathsome Crooze snuck in during a special election. Seems wrong that Texas should bear the cost of another special election for that pervangelist moron. All the more reason to show him the pointy ends of your boots or spurs, maybe both, in 2017.
Speaking of snacilbupeR, Bloody Bill Kristol revealed his latest conservative pick to dethrone Donnie Drumpf. Dumber than average, even for Bloody Bill.
Bloody Bill revealed his mystery man, David French. Name sound familiar? Actually, you may be more familiar with his wife, Nancy French. Yes, that her. The one who is ghost writer for word salad extraordinaire $carah Palin and her daughter, Barstool. David and Nancy are part of the Dog Squad ready to bring religion to a campus near you. David is also part of the War Squad ready to bring war to countries everywhere.
Or, David is Bloody Bill’s kind of nacibupeR, which is all we really need to know.
17Linda Phipps: sure, there is an Arabic term for “raving mad.”
It is “Republican.”
18Donald Drumpf is the human equivalent of an Ha Boob.
19maryelle, Donnie is a hybrid; the result of a half boob mixed with an orangutan in a shoddy lab. Like father like son. Daddy Drumpf should never have cut construction costs on Donnie’s petri dish.
20Aw, shoot! Even in No. VA the meteorologists use the word haboob and are not forced to wash out their mouths with lye soap!
21PKM, as a redhead I deeply resent your slander on orangutans. They are fine and critically endangered apes and do not deserve blame for Drumpf’s bratty idiocy.
22W.C. There were a lot of dust-storms/haboobs of both types in the ’30, and still some around in the ’50s drought. All it takes is dry soil and wind.
23Haboob…OMG. Sound sorta like what we’d say to describe our Lt. Gov, dontcha think?
24Haboobie, haboobie!*
* with apologies to Music Man.
25Hey Ms. Herownself:
I love you an’ all but pleez, pleez larn yurself how to spel, k?
Number 1 — its cullage-ejumacated. Jes so you know.
And number B: what the hey kinda fancypants wurd is “meteorologist” anyways? I bet its furrin. Prolly from Europe or one a them parts. An’ I don’ liv in no Denmurk or Sweeden so jes cut it out!
I may jes hafta go find me another plitical org to hang out on if you kepe this sorta stuff up.
26Rhea:
27It’s sad that the two [orangutans and Drumpf] can’t change places. I’d much rather Drumpf be the endangered one. Then maybe we could stick him in a zoo somewhere so he would be safe.
Here in Arizona, our storms roll into the Valley of the Sun miles across and a thousand feet high or more. Quite often, behind them are massive thunderstorms and rain. Somehow, “dust storm” fails to communicate the awesome power of such storms, but “Haboob”conveys something exotic! Keep your dust storms, Texas. Leave the Haboobs to Arizona!
28The woman’s name is Sharia, bless her heart.
29Any bets on where the name Hamil came from Wally?
30Rhea, I humbly and sincerely apologize to you, redheads and every member of the Animal Kingdom for any perceived blame for Donnie Drumpf that my comment might have engendered. In the future, I will be careful to lay blame where it belongs – that poorly constructed petri dish that hatched Donnie.
31Sharia Hamil, I don’t suppose you are familiar with the word “irony?” You’re no Betsy Johnson. And I’ll award a ½ point for the other schmuck because he correctly spelled “Afghanistan.”
32I think “haboob” sounds like allergy season–“Hey, gimme a tissue–ha-ha-ha-haBOOOOOOBBB! Boy, this dust sure is messin’ with my sinuses.”
33An even worse, very hot, nasty wind phenomenon than a haboob/dust storm is called a “simoom”, ‘poison wind’.
Charles Dickens (and others) even wrote about it a couple of times, once in an extremely prescient and appropriate manner, using the simoom as an analogy for a certain political Party:
“In American Notes Dickens also describes “that injurious [political] Party Spirit” as “the Simoom of America, sickening and blighting everything of wholesome life within its reach.” (p. 93 in the 1913 Chapman & Hall, Ltd. edition, online from Project Gutenberg).”
Could there be a better description of today’s Republics?
Republicans: “The Simoom of America”. I luvvs it.
I’ve seen quite a few dust storms/haboobs come through South, and West, TX. Awesome towering walls of wind, sand, dirt, ‘stuff’. Saw one hit a guy working up a ladder (on a Baptist church bldg); he splatted down, had serious injuries.
Another ‘mud storm’ blew part of West TX across Corpus Christi Bay, our boats were literally plastered with an inch and more of red dirt on the windward surfaces, sails, aluminum masts were just coated with so much crap you could hardly work a halyard to drop the sails.
Lots of boats sailing on the bay were caught by the sudden wind and damaged all to H3LL, masts broken, sails shredded, etc., (I beat it in).
Those things look the same north of San Angelo, got caught in a few between La Mesa and Amarillo.
.
Simoom:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simoom
“Simoom (Arabic: سموم samūm; from the root س م م s-m-m, سم “to poison”) is a strong, dry, dust-laden local wind that blows in the Sahara, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and the deserts of Arabian Peninsula. Alternative spellings include samiel, sameyel[citation needed], samoon, samun, simoun, and simoon. Its temperature may exceed 54 °C (129 °F) and the humidity may fall below 10%. Simoom winds have an alternative type occurring in the region of Central Asia known as “Garmsil” (гармсель).
The storm moves in cyclone (circular) form, carrying clouds of dust and sand, and produces on humans and animals a suffocating effect. The name means “poison wind” and is given because the sudden onset of simoom may also cause heat stroke. This is attributed to the fact that the hot wind brings more heat to the body than can be disposed of by the evaporation of perspiration.
34….
The only ever recorded simoom wind in North America occurred on June 17, 1859 in Goleta and Santa Barbara, California. In the morning the temperature hovered around the normal 24 to 27 °C (75 to 81 °F), but around 1 pm strong super hot winds filled with dust began to blow from the direction of the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north.
By 2 pm the temperature reached 56 °C (133 °F). This temperature was recorded by an official US coastal survey vessel that was operating in the waters just offshore in the Santa Barbara Channel. At 5 pm the temperature had reduced to 50 °C (122 °F) and by 7 pm the temperature was back to a normal 25 °C (77 °F).
The US government report stated that “Calves, rabbits and cattle died on their feet. Fruit fell from trees to the ground scorched on the windward side; all vegetable gardens were ruined. A fisherman in a rowboat made it to the Goleta Sandspit with his face and arms blistered as if he had been exposed to a blast furnace.”[2]
Luckily local inhabitants were saved from the heat by seeking shelter in the thick adobe walled houses that were the standard construction at the time.”
I’ve been out on a 122° day. Even though I was well-tanned, I had to stay in the shade. Being in direct sunlight for longer than a minute physically hurt! I can’t imagine how excruciating that 133° must have felt to that fisherman in the rowboat! It’s a wonder he survived.
35I saw lots of those back in the ’50s & early ’60s. We never called them haboobs either. But we were not highly educated up in the panhandle. Ignorance is no defense.
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