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Long-range transport of blowing dust from Mexico, New Mexico and Texas to the Upper Midwest

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-19 daytime True Color RGB + nighttime Dust RGB images, from 1901 UTC on 27 April to 0601 UTC on 28 April [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) daytime True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) provided a distinct view of widespread blowing dust (shades of tan to light brown) — that had its primary source regions in northern Mexico and southern New Mexico — on 27 April 2025. Peak wind gusts were as high as 50 knots at Deming NM (at 2246 UTC) and 46 knots at El Paso TX (at 2020 UTC). The visibility was restricted to 1/4-1/2 mile at El Paso TX from 2200-0145 UTC — prompting the issuance of numerous Blowing Dust Warnings in the area. After sunset, Dust RGB images highlighted the airborne dust (shades of magenta) as it was transported northeastward as far as southeast Colorado and southwest Kansas by 0601 UTC on 28 April. In addition, a few wildfires across northern Mexico and central New Mexico were producing notable smoke plumes (brighter shades of white, in contrast to the blowing dust) prior to sunset.

A longer animation of 10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-19 Dust RGB images (below) showed that the leading edge of airborne dust had advanced as far northeastward as Nebraska by 0900 UTC on 28 April, and northwestern Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan by 2110 UTC on 28 April.

10-minute GOES-19 Dust RGB images, from 1800 UTC on 27 April to 0600 UTC on 29 April [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

HYSPLIT Model forward trajectories initialized near the dust source regions in far northern Mexico (below) indicated that the dust-laden air parcels likely ascended to altitudes of 4.0 to 6.5 km by the time they passed over Wisconsin and Michigan by 0000 UTC on 29 April — which was in good agreement with what was observed in the longer animation of GOES-19 Dust RGB images.

HYSPLIT Model forward trajectories, from 2000 UTC on 27 April to 0500 UTC on 29 April

Categories: Air quality, Geo2Grid, GOES-19, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images