Insane ‘Dirt-nado’ Hits Las Vegas VIDEO

Last month a violent and strange wind storm hit Las Vegas briefly with high winds of up to 60 mph. 

The insane storm was caught on video showing high winds, rain, snow and dirt debris flying through the air on Las Vegas’ far north side.

The storm which swept through the city causing some damages to homes, roofs and knocking some trees down was similar to a haboob.

A haboob  is a type of intense dust storm carried on an atmospheric gravity current, also known as a weather front. Haboobs occur regularly in arid regions throughout the world.

As with haboobs in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Kuwait, haboob occurrences in North America are often created by the collapse of a thunderstorm.

The arid and semiarid regions of North America—in fact, any dry region—may experience haboobs. In North America, the most common terms for these events are either dust storm or sandstorm. In the U.S., they frequently occur in the deserts of Arizona, including around the cities of Yuma and Phoenix; in New Mexico, including Albuquerque; in eastern California, and in Texas.

They also sometimes occur in the Columbia Basin, of Eastern Washington, almost always leading to an impact with the city of Spokane. If the storms are strong enough, they can reach as far east as the Rathdrum Prairie and the Palouse, in the Idaho Panhandle.