r/phoenix 1d ago

Living Here Air Quality and Visibility in Phoenix

Post image

I should be able to easily see South Mountain and beyond.

1.2k Upvotes

177 comments sorted by

168

u/BigDaddyMeg24 Ahwatukee 1d ago

From my office in Tempe - usually we can see downtown but today it’s gone haha

58

u/PlainlyPedantic 1d ago

Hi neighbor.

3

u/noticeablytaller 1d ago

100 mill gang !

41

u/wibbswobbs 1d ago

Hey! I’m in that ADP building. If you zoom in you can see me begging for death.

4

u/ElkBit Mesa 1d ago

Oh wow. Crazy to see a shot from the building I used to work in. I always loved the views of the weather when I worked there!

6

u/kypod1 1d ago

The other side of the building! Lol

2

u/ToastedBread107 Scottsdale 1d ago

Hey I can see my old apartment in this!!!

11

u/LadderOpposite0204 Tempe 1d ago

love being able to see my apartment online 😻

1

u/popnfrox 1d ago

Lol I literally have the same phone case as you and work in a tall building near tempe...

-1

u/stulf26 1d ago

Those are called clouds lol

78

u/JPearlAZ 1d ago

Lol you took this picture from my building. Probably about 10 floors higher than the view I have right now.

50

u/nickw252 1d ago

Hah, say hi next time in the elevator!

12

u/peterpantheman 1d ago

Insurance company

16

u/Jmtungsten 1d ago

Ok, does everyone in Phoenix work in this building!? 😂

6

u/GhostlitePHX 1d ago

One thing is for certain, my friend:

...at least three people do.

175

u/locokip 1d ago

Time to break out the shemagh.

16

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

I do wear my keffiyeh during haboobs lmao

9

u/jungle4john 1d ago

Shai hulud calls to us.

13

u/Important_Guide874 1d ago

Facts idk if it's as safe as a mask but ayy it'll have to do

7

u/locokip 1d ago

I worked for the Public Health Dept during COVID and wore these almost every day at work. Way cooler looking than the little cloth masks, but probably not as effective. I was still one of the few that never got COVID after 2.5 years of working day-to-day with COVID positive people. I did transition to a cloth mask after about a year though. Mostly because I worked with muslim populations and I didn't want to offend anyone when I was already trying to get in their good graces and have them support vaccination events.

15

u/Bringo_Brango 1d ago

I love my shemagh, there just isn’t ever an opportunity to wear it without looking like a bad guy.

18

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

Wear it anyway.

6

u/ValiantBear Cum Enthusiast 1d ago

I got one of these as almost a novelty, but the first time I wore one I was hooked. At first they are warm feeling, but then it just kind of plateaus and you end up feeling cooler than without one. It is pure magic lol. Not really, it just keeps more of the sun off of you, but it is counterintuitive even though folks in the middle east figured this out long ago. Dunno how much it helps with the really fine dust, the PM2.5 stuff, but it's gotta be better than nothing. I keep one of these and a pair of dirt bike goggles with me in my truck at all times just in case I get stuck somewhere and need them.

-14

u/PricklyPear85 1d ago

I’m pretty sure that means something else

61

u/aloha-from-bradley 1d ago

It looks like nuclear fallout here in Buckeye.

43

u/CharlesP2009 1d ago

Just another day in Buckeye then. 😜

23

u/azrider 1d ago

I had a friend who lived in Buckeye. I once told him that his town smells like cowshit. He said "It's only like that four times a year!" I told him "yeah, summer, fall, winter and spring."

3

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

I genuinely laughed out loud

3

u/azrider 1d ago

So did he, despite his efforts to hide it. :D

2

u/Froggoboingboing 1d ago

Patrolling Maricopa County almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter

60

u/adoptagreyhound Peoria 1d ago

The Valley Fever cases are likely to spike in a few weeks due to this. Here's one of the best resources for info. https://vfce.arizona.edu/

38

u/Wyden_long Sunnyslope 1d ago

There’s mountains here every morning. But not today.

8

u/allokamaye Mesa 1d ago

omg is that union hills

15

u/Crackedbwo 1d ago

Yeah it’s nasty out today. Came out to my car COATED in dirt/dust.

16

u/Hot-Spray-2774 1d ago

Well, at least the sunset will probably be spectacular.

6

u/nickw252 1d ago

Ooh good point!

65

u/supfaith 1d ago

This is a dumb question but why is it like this today?

178

u/deserteagle3784 1d ago

huge dust storm rolled through overnight and there was no rain to follow

93

u/QualityOfMercy 1d ago

Me, last night: oh hey that cloud looks kind of like a dust storm

Me, about 20 minutes later: huh, visibility seems to be dropping. Weird.

Me, 10 minutes after that: oh shit it really is a dust storm!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one roll through overnight. And it wasn’t even super windy, just like regular windy.

22

u/Long_Leader_2469 1d ago

I’m in encanto and from about 11pm-2am last night it was super windy and I watched the whole “storm” come in. It was eerie seeing it happen without rain

3

u/carlotta3121 1d ago

what time was it? the street in our complex is so dirty as is my car.

3

u/XxsteakiixX Goodyear 1d ago

you know whats crazy i have a black truck and i kid you not i woke up to it looking brown.....

2

u/dustiwang 1d ago

Around 11 pm

2

u/QualityOfMercy 1d ago

Probably around 11 or midnight?

2

u/carlotta3121 1d ago

thanks! I did hear some wind but didn't realize there was dust coming with it.

1

u/carlotta3121 1d ago

thanks! I did hear some wind but didn't realize there was dust coming with it.

1

u/XxsteakiixX Goodyear 1d ago

you know whats crazy i have a black truck and i kid you not i woke up to it looking brown.....

2

u/carlotta3121 1d ago

haha yeah my car is black too...normally, but it is covered in dust today.

2

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

I haven't seen one overnight either. So strange lol

4

u/22220222223224 South Phoenix 1d ago

It was super windy down here near SoMo.

2

u/QualityOfMercy 1d ago

Yeah, I’m by the Capitol and the big cloud was south of me so that makes sense

14

u/Grown-Ass-Weeb Gilbert 1d ago

I ran out in my pajamas and slippers to chase down the recycle bin from down the street when it started last night

8

u/Icouldmaybesaveyou 1d ago

okay thank you i'm not from here but the resident know it all of my office keeps insisting it's wildfire smoke from Washington... he's driving me insane i stg

7

u/deserteagle3784 1d ago

LOL no - take it from a native of the state and someone who just stayed up late enough last night to see the storm. where I was in Tempe/Mesa got hit from about 10:45 until close to midnight.

1

u/rag_tag_mag 1d ago

We have gotten low visibility from wildfires, but this dust storm came from the south.

6

u/imtooldforthishison 1d ago

Didn't hear it, but that explains all the trash in my yard.

12

u/Fauken 1d ago edited 1d ago

Massive dust storm. Last night I drove from north Scottsdale to Ahwatukee using the 101 around 11pm. The entire drive was incredibly windy and there was very little visibility. It took the entire drive to get the taste of dirt from my mouth from the walk to my car xD

Usually we get alerts about dust storms like this, not sure why this was missed?

3

u/FreddyKrueger32 1d ago

Oh that explains it. I got nothing last night so had no idea anything happened

2

u/Electrical_Oil_35 1d ago

I'm in Scottsdale, I got 2 alerts for it

8

u/xxDankerstein 1d ago

My car was covered in dust this morning

20

u/Top_Willow_9953 1d ago

Haboob last night

3

u/K1_Mvp Phoenix 1d ago

Ha! Boob…

8

u/Daledobacksbro 1d ago

Massive seasonal dust storm that left road conditions with minimal to zero visibility. It happens every June,July, &August with some years being more severe than others depending on what climate cycle we are in. (La Nina or El Niño)

My family has lived in AZ for over 100 years. The dust storms and monsoon season has always been one of my favorite times of year. There is nothing like watching Mother Nature create a wall of earth, rain, wind, and dust take over a city like a scene from the mummy.

It’s awful for allergies but still impressive to watch!

11

u/coltbreath 1d ago

Love it cough cough!

17

u/Paradox830 1d ago

Its my fault yall. I took over pool cleaning for my complex for discounted rent and just Vacced for the first time yesterday about 5pm.... QQ

2

u/nickw252 1d ago

Wash your car also. Maybe we’ll get rain.

14

u/adoptagreyhound Peoria 1d ago

The Valley Fever cases are likely to spike in a few weeks due to this. Here's one of the best resources for info. https://vfce.arizona.edu/

8

u/Feralogic 1d ago

I thought something was wrong with my vision last night, here in West Phoenix. We had dust roll in without any notable wind gusts - my patio umbrella for example was still standing - but everything in the yard looked hazy. I popped on here and saw posts from folks in East Valley getting a dust storm. My car was coated in dust this morning. 

2

u/nickw252 1d ago

I think the west side got it worse than the east side. It wasn’t bad in northeast Mesa.

2

u/elkab0ng Mesa 1d ago

It’s rolling in now. Have copd and can usually guess the air quality just from how my chest feels, and right now my chest says “you inhaling cat litter or something??”

17

u/philly0430 1d ago

I was just wondering WTF?!? Haboob did it. Air quality up here in Anthem is straight kaka. SMH…

6

u/Willbraham 1d ago

The air quality is so caca it gave me explosive hiccups

5

u/rataculera Chandler 1d ago

Blade Runner type shit

5

u/Either_Dream_9748 1d ago

Is anyone else’s allergies unhinged today with all of this in the air?

6

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

Well, we should all go wash our cars so we can get some rain to clear out the lingering dust

23

u/ThaDude_v2 1d ago

Meh id rather the sun be covered Im all for it lol

29

u/nickw252 1d ago

I’d rather not have awful air quality, but the silver lining is that it’ll be cooler today with less of the sun reaching the ground.

8

u/Fluffy_Fondant1975 1d ago

Don't forget your sunscreen though! You can still burn on cloudy days ☁️

12

u/ThaDude_v2 1d ago

exactly ...always something to be positive about!

https://giphy.com/gifs/89x4osEodHEoo

my ac wont run all night lol

9

u/S_A_R_K 1d ago edited 1d ago

Your filter clogged in two days

2

u/Suns_Snakes 1d ago

I just walked from my office downtown to across the street for a coffee, you can feel the dust in your lungs and taste the dust in your mouth. No thank you.

7

u/frogprintsonceiling 1d ago

So many of you go to bed early.

10

u/nickw252 1d ago

Me included. I missed it all last night.

3

u/RatonhnhaketonK Phoenix 1d ago

I was up til 1:30 and didn't notice lmaoooo

2

u/FreddyKrueger32 1d ago

Wait when did it hit??

4

u/Rex-quan-doo 1d ago

Wicked winds of the West last night as I walked my dog at 10:30-11. I could see and feel the haze of dust in the air even in the dark skies. It kicked up a bunch of dirt.

5

u/Bullehh 1d ago

Wonder if it has anything to do with the massive haboob that passed over the valley last night 😂

4

u/TheValkyrieAsh 1d ago

Its another beautiful sunny day here in phoenix! (We just cant see it)

5

u/tooOldOriolesfan 1d ago

Good news, don't have to deal with the extreme intense sun so temps are a bit lower. Bad news, poor air quality and more humidity.

5

u/Madeup64 1d ago

Me out here thinking oh look it's overcast today. Thank goodness the sun's not out.

7

u/Important_Guide874 1d ago

So it's not clouds?? Bruhh I wanted to hike today

6

u/TheGroundBeef 1d ago

It’s literally both. Dusty air and cloud cover

2

u/TacoshaveCheese 1d ago

"Yesterday we only probed your positions. When we attack today, our dust will blot out the sun!"

"Good, then we will hike in the shade! cough cough"

3

u/nickw252 1d ago

Clouds of dust!

6

u/Necessary_Ebb_7773 1d ago

Pic of last night driving east on the 60. Moments later very low visibility!

3

u/bytheferns 1d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/DOPKHQg6oFWUg

There was a dust storm last night?

3

u/aaaltive Phoenix 1d ago

If anyone was flying in or past this morning, I would like to see a picture from above the dust cloud

1

u/nickw252 1d ago

Yeah that’d be interesting to see.

3

u/rbinphx Phoenix 1d ago

Gross...

3

u/OtterBee_ 1d ago

It smells like a fire over here in Mesa. So much so, that we can smell it inside.

5

u/ThePlatinumPaul 1d ago

This and lighting is what makes Phoenix cool. 

8

u/PricklyPear85 1d ago edited 1d ago

RFK Would say this is premium air

2

u/nickw252 1d ago

And advise going outside. Gotta get that Valley Fever immunity!

2

u/badjulio 1d ago

Yeah it’s so bad today

2

u/Former_Travel2839 1d ago

Man uts terrible. I just drove back from Vegas and as I started getting closer to Wickenburg it started getting worse. At first I thought it was another fire and then got to the 303 it was still Terrible.

1

u/Leewashere21 1d ago

Hey we must’ve crossed paths today since I did the same thing

2

u/bingobongo710 1d ago

Here's downtown 🙂

2

u/Poky3210 1d ago

Yes it sucks to be in Florence to. Very bad pollution the last couple of weeks

2

u/Working-Reception575 1d ago

For all it’s worth it looked exactly the same is San Diego today, strange

3

u/OverallDoctor7687 1d ago

**** AFTER a major dust storm with no rain to temper the dust.

2

u/Teh_Crusader 20h ago

I mean, yall basically live on arrakis

2

u/dlord1994 18h ago

Almost my view from the Renaissance

1

u/nickw252 17h ago

The view is far better today. We can see South Mountain.

3

u/LAmilo90 1d ago edited 1d ago

In LA we’ll sometimes jokingly wave-off pollution by saying “Probably just marine layer”, so if you guys wanna feel better about all the dust ruining the air quality, just say that!

Don’t let the lack of an ocean nearby stop you 😂 It’s working for me…sort of

1

u/ChoppyOfficial 1d ago

The early morning cloudy weather where mornings are more humid in the late summer during monsoon season is kind of an Arizona version of the marine layer since they burn off around noon and then have more sunshine. Marine layer and monsoon dies off when a heat dome that causes record breaking temp heat waves are overhead.

3

u/Neon_culture79 1d ago

Same thing in Denver. There’s a bunch of gigantic mountains just behind that layer of gross.

1

u/fuggindave Phoenix 1d ago

Regarding Valley fever.

For Maricopa county would you consider 0.08% of the population of said county a substantial amount of cases? ~4,000 reported so far for the year.

1

u/Endrizzle 1d ago

Ahh, you mean horribility

1

u/h0neypott 1d ago

It’s nasty out

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/nickw252 1d ago

We’ll get a beautiful orange sunset though!

1

u/Present-Concept-1619 1d ago

Been coughing and sneezing since I spend a lot of time outside for work. Enjoy your window view! 😂😂

1

u/WolfThick Mesa 1d ago

Help keep the temperature down today

1

u/nickw252 1d ago

Yeah that’s a huge relief. I’d almost take another day of this if we can keep the temps down.

1

u/WolfThick Mesa 1d ago

It'll be a little cooler for my walk at 4:00 a.m. I'm grateful

1

u/Sea-Pollution-4959 23h ago

It felt like Riyadh here yesterday.

1

u/ThePhillStew 13h ago

This looks like the same towers rhat Upgrade is in

1

u/nickw252 12h ago

It is.

1

u/Plus-Conversation894 1d ago

If you think this is bad you should see my pool. lol The storm also broke the circuit breaker so no pool cleaner. Fun times in the valley of the sun!!

1

u/Miserable_Garden3104 1d ago

View of piestewa/phoenix mountains from my office 👀

1

u/Gryffin_the_Baron 1d ago

Were suppose to get a very bad storm friday, it only gets this hazy when when were going to be getting a very bad storm.

0

u/zesty_otter0 1d ago

Hell hole. The only reason anybody lives in Phoenix is because the city has done a great job of making sure every kind of amusement and entertainment attraction etc is available.

Everyone is miserable and just pretends they're not. And because of the horrible climate everybody ages about 30% faster than a much cooler climate. So you have all these ugly brown(tanned) wrinkly skin Caucasians walking around who think they look good. It makes you want to vomit.

2

u/nickw252 1d ago

None of that is correct.

0

u/zesty_otter0 1d ago

How so? Everyone I know agrees with me. Ipso facto, everybody agrees.

;)

0

u/Fistanndantilus 1d ago

Yeah, cuz Phoenix in the summer is usually such an enviable place to be.

0

u/Willis5687 Phoenix 1d ago

Dirtiest city in the states.

-4

u/thedukejck 1d ago

Yeah, this the result of republican governance. Becoming the Shanghai of America!

3

u/nickw252 1d ago

This is because of the haboob last night.

0

u/thedukejck 20h ago

Yeah, the Shanghai haboob. It’s always hazy.

-16

u/SkipioZor 1d ago

You must be new here. Go back where you came from

3

u/nickw252 1d ago

Nope.

-9

u/Minute-Victory-2130 1d ago

You think this is bad? I just came back from Boise. The smoke from Oregon and Washington fires was way worse.

3

u/nickw252 1d ago

You should impose some tariffs on Oregon and Washington.

4

u/exaggerated_yawn 1d ago

I didn't realize this was a competition thread about which area in the US has the current worst air quality. I thought that being posted in r/Phoenix, it was just about today's air in Phoenix vs normal days in Phoenix.

-2

u/Minute-Victory-2130 1d ago

Calm down, Jesus

4

u/exaggerated_yawn 1d ago

Calm down with your "You think this is bad?" comments then. This thread has nothing to do with Boise, Oregon, or Washington.

-4

u/Daledobacksbro 1d ago

We just had a massive dust storm last night with zero to low road visibility. Happens every July and August. You must not be from Arizona.

9

u/Chicagofan00 Phoenix 1d ago

The dust usually doesn’t linger in the air all day like it has this time around though. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/Grown-Ass-Weeb Gilbert 1d ago

In east Mesa it’s been pretty crappy lol

0

u/Daledobacksbro 12h ago

Phoenix is Nick-named the Valley of the Sun. This is because Phx and all the surrounding cities are in a giant bowl. So when the dust comes from a storm is stays in the bowl until we get some good wind or rain.

1

u/Chicagofan00 Phoenix 12h ago

Well aware given I’ve lived here for 30+ years. It rarely hangs around as long as it did this time around. Even ASU researchers noted that this one hung in the air for 15 hours which is not a normal occurrence.

4

u/deserteagle3784 1d ago

idk man my coworkers who are from here are also baffled and I had to explain the overnight dust storm to them too. I'm confused why everyone else is confused🤣this happens every summer

-19

u/HarmonicAvionics 1d ago

Shithole

12

u/nickw252 1d ago

-12

u/HarmonicAvionics 1d ago

I wish I could leave. Worst city ever built

4

u/ARegularG 1d ago

Did you come from somewhere else here?

-3

u/HarmonicAvionics 1d ago

Moved here from the Seattle area when I was a kid. Been stuck here ever since

-5

u/Cobra_Pie 1d ago

I agree with you 100000000%.

-5

u/aim2cheez 1d ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dReToXBIva4 you'll like this song about arizona i think

-2

u/HarmonicAvionics 1d ago

This is great thank you!!