PHOENIX — Calling Monday, Aug. 26, 2025, a typical monsoon day in the Valley would be a massive understatement.
A powerful storm kicked up a towering wall of dust that rolled through metro Phoenix on Monday, darkening the sky, blinding drivers, knocking out power and grounding flights at one of the nation’s busiest airports.
Bernae Boykin Hitesman was driving her son and daughter, ages 9 and 11, home from school when the storm, known as a haboob, arrived late in the afternoon in Arizona City, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix.
She had to quickly pull over as the storm engulfed her car. “I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside,” she said.
PHOTOS: Monsoon 2025 brings massive dust storm, heavy rain to the Valley
Boykin Hitesman said she could taste the dust and feel the strong wind rattling her car until it finally passed about 15 minutes later.
“I was nervous,” she said. “My kids were really, really scared, so I was trying to be brave for them.”
A haboob is a dust storm pushed by the wind produced by a weather front or thunderstorm and typically occurs in flat, arid areas. Heavy rain and wind followed Monday's haboob, delaying flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and causing some damage to a terminal roof.
“Crews have been identifying leaks and attempting to clean up water where it has collected in passenger areas,” Heather Shelbrack, the airport’s deputy aviation director for public relations, said in an email.
Thousands of people lost power, most in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
Richard Filley, a retired university professor who lives in Gilbert, said the dust storm caused the trees to sway and knocked bird feeders to the ground. Fine dust found its way through “every little crack and space” into his house, he said.
“The windstorm part of it, I’m glad it’s gone,” he said. “You look at the photos of haboobs and they are a spectacular natural phenomenon. They are kind of beautiful in their own way.”
VIDEOS: Monsoon storms sweeping across the Valley bringing rain, thunder, lightning
Stunning images captured a haboob towering an estimated 3,000–4,000 feet high and stretching roughly 30–40 miles wide across the Valley.
Wind gusts hit 70 mph at Sky Harbor, causing damage there and coinciding with dozens of reports across the Phoenix metro.
This storm marks the first use of the "Dust Storm Severity Index," developed and designed with the help of our very own Chief Meteorologist Amber Sullins.
Preliminary data suggests this haboob likely ranks as a Category 2, as dust concentrations weren’t as intense. Sullins and the team of meteorologists will provide final confirmation later on Tuesday.
Monsoon storm chances stay isolated to spotty Tuesday and Wednesday before drier air returns, bringing more typical late-August heat into the holiday weekend. Slight storm chances return on Labor Day.
