Extreme Weather - Arizona Style

Dust storms are quite exciting, especially if you happen to actually catch one rolling in towards you!  I had to break from my series on Open-Ended play to share some pictures we took when we noticed a big one rolling in yesterday evening as we were getting the kids ready for bed.  From our upstairs window, we usually have this view:

Instead by the time I had 'raced' downstairs (as much as a 27.5week pregnant lady can) to get my camera and back up, it had already curled up over the mountain and looked like this as it rolled in: 

The time lapse from when I first noticed orange-ish clouds starting to billow behind the mountain to when we were engulfed took about 10 minutes.  The boys were a little frightened since they had recently been learning about tornadoes...  They were quite relieved when I reminded them that we rarely get those here and they certainly aren't like the one's that hit the midwest...

I am thankful that we were all home and not out on the road somewhere.  That is where dust storms can be especially dangerous since visibility drastically drops with very little warning.

A photographer did time-lapse photography to capture the storms growth and progress.  Check it out!

This cloud of dust, that at its peak (somewhere down near where we were at), was estimated to be about 10,000 feet high was a sight to behold.

Ok, now that the excitement is over, hopefully rain will be on its way soon to our dry desert home and I'll get back to posting about the importance of play!