Sometimes you don't recognize something as unusual when it's right in front of you.

While looking through YouTube for stories about Lubbock I came upon the following:

"Horror in Texas disappeared sky! A powerful dust storm hit Lubbock! USA"-YouTube/Destructive Weather

The video claims to be from Lubbock on February 26th. I'm pretty sure that is accurate, but it would be hard to prove when all of the footage was taken, or even where it was taken (after all, most everything is covered with orange sand).

One look at the video and I'm sure you'll say, "Yeah, that looks like Lubbock..or close enough". I'm not so sure I'd go with "Horror in Texas disappeared sky!" though, because the sky is pretty much where all the dirt was. I would also hate to tell this YouTube channel, this isn't even the worse we've seen. Yes, it was pretty bad, but really not that out of the ordinary for the area.

I don't remember feeling any "horror" during the dust storm. It was more like "dang, better turn on the humidifier" and then I went back to doing my business.  Lubbock is in what is called a "semi-arid climate" so the weather is just right for this kind of thing.  People don't think about it, but what rain we do get is just enough to break up the dirt clods into dust, which then goes airborne on windy days.

So a (somewhat) regular dusty storm for us is apparently some end-of-the-world stuff to other people. Other than the people with breathing problems, most of us don't really react to it at all. I have a Swiffer, and that's all most of us need to survive a Lubbock dust storm.

Lubbock Duststorm February 26th, 2023

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