Plume of blowing dust/sand originating from White Sands, New Mexico
GOES-13 0.65 µm visible channel images
McIDAS images of the GOES-13 0.65 µm visible channel data (above) showed the development of a well-defined plume of blowing dust/sand that appeared to originate from the White Sands, New Mexico area on 29 April 2010 — this plume of airborne aerosols very quickly reached the Texas/New Mexico border by about 21 UTC. Very strong winds (gusting to 50-70 mph) across the region were responsible for the widespread areas of blowing dust, which restricted surface visibilities to below 3 miles at a number of sites across New Mexico.