Shmal
(noun)
Ferocious dust and sandstorm
We are, without a doubt, having a shmal today.
I'm not sure if shmal is an Arabic word, or just a nickname given by the residents of Dhahran. I also can't figure out why most days the wind doesn't do that - it must have to do with the direction it blows or something. The amount of dust that moves around is astounding. I backed out of the driveway today and you could see tire tracks, much like you'd see with a light dusting of snow.
Walking outside, even for a moment, is horrible. You have to cover your nose and mouth with anything that is handy. Pulling your shirt up over most of your face does the trick (I envy the covered Saudi women on days like this - their veils are perfect for shmals). If you see people walking around, they absolutely have protective masks or shirts up as described. However, I guarantee you that no one is doing anything but going as quickly as they can to their cars. In fact, I wouldn't even let the boys walk home from school today - I can't imagine what the 15 minutes in this air would do to Jake's asthma.
Here is the view from our driveway on a typical day:
And of course, here is the same view during the storm:
I did not retouch or use any kind of filter on this picture - yes, it really was that orange at the time. It's been about 2 hours now and it's still very foggy looking, but not as orange as earlier.
The real bummer is that the boys have a half day of school today for parent/teacher conferences. The weather has been in the 70's, perfect play outside temperatures. I will certainly need to keep them in all of today and likely tomorrow as well. Thankfully this doesn't happen very often - this is around the fourth one since the boys and I arrived in August. It just also happens to be the most colorful one we've seen. Yuck!
(noun)
Ferocious dust and sandstorm
We are, without a doubt, having a shmal today.
I'm not sure if shmal is an Arabic word, or just a nickname given by the residents of Dhahran. I also can't figure out why most days the wind doesn't do that - it must have to do with the direction it blows or something. The amount of dust that moves around is astounding. I backed out of the driveway today and you could see tire tracks, much like you'd see with a light dusting of snow.
Walking outside, even for a moment, is horrible. You have to cover your nose and mouth with anything that is handy. Pulling your shirt up over most of your face does the trick (I envy the covered Saudi women on days like this - their veils are perfect for shmals). If you see people walking around, they absolutely have protective masks or shirts up as described. However, I guarantee you that no one is doing anything but going as quickly as they can to their cars. In fact, I wouldn't even let the boys walk home from school today - I can't imagine what the 15 minutes in this air would do to Jake's asthma.
Here is the view from our driveway on a typical day:
And of course, here is the same view during the storm:
I did not retouch or use any kind of filter on this picture - yes, it really was that orange at the time. It's been about 2 hours now and it's still very foggy looking, but not as orange as earlier.
The real bummer is that the boys have a half day of school today for parent/teacher conferences. The weather has been in the 70's, perfect play outside temperatures. I will certainly need to keep them in all of today and likely tomorrow as well. Thankfully this doesn't happen very often - this is around the fourth one since the boys and I arrived in August. It just also happens to be the most colorful one we've seen. Yuck!
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