Big Four Corners Dust Storm

It is nuking in the four corners area where there is an impressive dust storm underway, not to mention a smoke plume from fires in New Mexico.  The latter was clearly evident in the 17:55 UTC Terra/MODIS overpass.

Source: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov

It's tough to see the dust in the image above, perhaps because the event was just getting going at 1755 UTC (1155 MDT), as shown by the observations from Blanding (K4BL).  The latest report from 2055 UTC shos wind gusts to 52 mph with blowing "sand" (probably dust) reducing visibilities to 1 mile.

One can also see wide-spread dust in the four corners area in the visible satellite loop below.  Click to enlarge.

Must be fun camping in the 4 corners area today....

Addendum 5:37 PM MDT:

The Naval Research Lab dust algorithm picks up on the dust in the MODIS image above quite nicely.  The pink areas below are likely dust and clearly shows the dust that is affecting the blanding area.  

Source: NRL