Haboob

Haboob

həˈbo͞ob

Noun

  • A violent and oppressive wind blowing in summer, especially in Sudan, bringing sand from the desert.

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Example Sentences

“You’ll need scarves and goggles for your trip to protect against the sand brought by the haboob.”

“We couldn’t leave the house for a whole day while the haboob was blowing.”

“Our last two nights in the desert were frightening due to the haboob raging outside.”

Word Origin

Arabic, late 19th century

Why this word?

In Arabic, “habūb” means “blowing furiously.” This word has proved to be quite useful to describe the strong sandy winds blowing across the Sudan, and it has been adopted into the vocabulary of other desert climate locales as well. Not every gust of wind across the desert counts as a haboob, but Arizona meteorologists decided that the intense dust storms that swept across Phoenix in 1971 did qualify. They described wind speed, a rise in humidity, and a drop in air temperature that all counted as “classic haboob characteristics.”

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