If you were curious about the unusually hazy skies this morning, airborne dust has been transported all the way from southern New Mexico and western Texas! Strong and gusty winds began in the Southern Great Plains on Monday along a cold front diving southward. Using HYSPLIT air parcel back trajectories over the last 24 hours beginning at the surface and up to 1,500 feet in altitude (green and blue line on graphic, respectively), the influx of dust can be traced back from the desert regions of our neighboring states to the east. A western progression of elevated dust concentrations (i.e., PM10) could be followed across southern Arizona overnight, reaching Phoenix around 6 AM this morning. Breezy winds have since spread to us today and will gradually help push transported dust out of the local area. However, haze aloft will be slow to clear out.
