#duststorms — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #duststorms, aggregated by home.social.
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Deadly #Colorado, #Kansas pileups, fast-moving Plains #wildfires fueled by #DangerousWinds
#BlowingDust created near-zero visibility on I-25 near Pueblo, killing 4 people, while the same powerful #windstorm fueled fast-moving wildfires and triggered additional crashes across the Plains.
By Emilee Speck, AccuWeather staff writer & Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist
Published Feb 17, 2026"Powerful winds kicking up dust across the Plains contributed to multiple fatal crashes and sparked rapidly spreading wildfires on Tuesday as dry grasses fueled fast-moving flames.
"Heavy winds created dangerous 'brown out' conditions along Interstate 25 near Pueblo, Colorado, on the morning of Feb. 17, with a massive multi-vehicle crash happening amid low to near-zero visibility. The Colorado State Patrol responded around 10:02 a.m. MST to the crash on southbound I-25 at milepost 92, just south of Pueblo Boulevard. Preliminary findings indicate more than 30 vehicles were involved, including six semis.
"Authorities have confirmed four fatalities, and 29 people were transported to hospitals, though the extent of their injuries remains unknown."
[...]
"[W]est of Oakley, #Kansas, another multi-vehicle pileup occurred on I-70 during low visibility caused by blowing dust, underscoring the widespread travel hazards created by the powerful windstorm. Winds in the area were gusting around 60 mph at the time the crash was reported.
"In #Oklahoma, a fast-growing wildfire in the Oklahoma panhandle, east of Beaver, quickly spread into Kansas."
#USWx #ExtremeWx #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Duststorms #ExtremeWeather #ClimateChangeIsReal #ClimateChangeWeatherWheel
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Estimated 2 billion tons of #sand and #dust are entering the atmosphere per year: ‘We are in a vicious circle’
Story by Jeremiah Budin, December 11, 2023
"#Pollution and human activity have ripple effects everywhere that plants grow, and one of those effects is that there is less land for plants to grow than ever before.
"According to the United Nations, the world is losing around 386,000 square miles (by some estimates, more than Texas and New Mexico combined) of productive land per year to sand and #DustStorms — the result of #HumanActivity, as Reuters reports.
What is happening?
"The United Nations Convention to Combat #Desertification (#UNCCD) recently issued a report that called attention to the issue of land loss due to #SandStorms, which have hit large areas of #Africa and #Asia. According to the report, at least 25% of the storms could be attributed to human activity, such as #overmining and #overgrazing.
Why is this concerning?
"According to the UNCCD report, 'with impacts far beyond the source regions, an estimated 2 billion tons of sand and dust now enters the atmosphere every year, an amount equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza.' And while sand storms are common in many regions, this new frequency and intensity are not.
“'We are in a vicious circle, where #LandDegradation is fueling #ClimateChange and climate change is exacerbating land loss in the world,' Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD executive secretary, told Reuters.
"Thiaw went on to explain that as the sand storms continue to make an increasing amount of land unfarmable, it affects people’s ability to get food in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.
“'It goes well beyond individuals,' he said. 'It is affecting the entire community.'
What can be done about it?
"The UNCCD had several recommendations for steps that could be taken to prevent further land loss. For one, it said that funding needs to be increased to tackle the problem, which has drawn less attention so far than other issues caused by human-driven pollution.
"Also, new incentives are needed for the private sector to take responsibility for the land that it destroys.
"As Thiaw told Reuters, #China has been successful at combating desertification and controlling dust, by employing a #LandManagement, #restoration, and #reforestation program."
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Smog got you down this year? Yeah, me too. Global dust storms must be even worse for a lonesome girl...unless you have a robotic uranium mine to show off to a dreamy date. Enjoy that with her in my little story.
#books #scifi #sciencefiction #Mars #Marscolonization #duststorms #globalduststorms #mining #romance #scifiromance #sciencefictionromance #romancestory #story #shortstory
Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG3CFQKW/
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFVVB87D/