1.
Nature
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Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. Nature can refer to the phenomena of the world. The study of nature is a part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or essential qualities, innate disposition, and in ancient times, literally meant birth. Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis, which related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals. This usage continued during the advent of scientific method in the last several centuries. Within the various uses of the word today, nature often refers to geology, for example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, human nature or the whole of nature. Depending on the context, the term natural might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural. Earth is the planet known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun, it is the largest terrestrial planet and its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region. Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre,71 percent of the Earths surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the land in the Northern Hemisphere. Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions, the outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a layer of plastic mantle. This iron core is composed of a solid phase. Convective motion in the core generates electric currents through dynamo action, the atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms, which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth, the geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations
2.
Weather
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Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the lowest level of the atmosphere, Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, weather is understood to mean the weather of Earth. Weather is driven by air pressure, temperature and moisture differences between one place and another and these differences can occur due to the suns angle at any particular spot, which varies with latitude. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric circulations, the Hadley Cell, the Ferrel Cell, the Polar Cell, Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earths axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, on Earths surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C annually. Over thousands of years, changes in Earths orbit can affect the amount and distribution of energy received by the Earth, thus influencing long-term climate. Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences, higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes as most atmospheric heating is due to contact with the Earths surface while radiative losses to space are mostly constant. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The Earths weather system is a system, as a result. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout history, and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture, studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiters Great Red Spot, is a storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, weather is not limited to planetary bodies, a stars corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind, on Earth, the common weather phenomena include wind, cloud, rain, snow, fog and dust storms. Less common events include natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, almost all familiar weather phenomena occur in the troposphere. Weather does occur in the stratosphere and can affect weather lower down in the troposphere, Weather occurs primarily due to air pressure, temperature and moisture differences between one place to another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, in other words, the farther from the tropics one lies, the lower the sun angle is, which causes those locations to be cooler due the spread of the sunlight over a greater surface. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the large scale atmospheric circulation cells and the jet stream, Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow
3.
Season
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A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. During May, June, and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the hemisphere in November, December. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the months which increases the solar flux. However, due to lag, June, July, and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January. In temperate and subpolar regions, four calendar-based seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn or fall. Ecologists often use a model for temperate climate regions, prevernal, vernal, estival, serotinal, autumnal. Many tropical regions have two seasons, the rainy, wet, or monsoon season and the dry season, some have a third cool, mild, or harmattan season. Seasons often held special significance for agrarian societies, whose lives revolved around planting and harvest times, in some parts of the world, some other seasons capture the timing of important ecological events such as hurricane season, tornado season, and wildfire season. The most historically important of these are the three seasons—flood, growth, and low water—which were previously defined by the annual flooding of the Nile in Egypt. The seasons result from the Earths axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees, regardless of the time of year, the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons. This is because during summer or winter, one part of the planet is directly exposed to the rays of the Sun than the other. For approximately half of the year, the northern hemisphere tips toward the Sun, for the other half of the year, the same happens, but in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern, with the maximum around December 21. The two instants when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator are the equinoxes. Also at that moment, both the North Pole and the South Pole of the Earth are just on the terminator, and hence day and night are equally divided between the northern and southern hemispheres. Around the March equinox, the northern hemisphere will be experiencing spring as the hours of daylight increase, the effect of axial tilt is observable as the change in day length and altitude of the Sun at noon during a year. Between this effect and the daylight hours, the axial tilt of the Earth accounts for most of the seasonal variation in climate in both hemispheres
4.
Winter
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Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates, between autumn and spring. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun, different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, in many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value, meaning this day will have the shortest day. The English word winter comes from the Proto-Indo-European root wend, relating to water, the tilt of the Earths axis relative to its orbital plane plays a large role in the formation of weather. The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23. 44° to the plane of its orbit, when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures than the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, winter in the Southern Hemisphere occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, from the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun. During winter in either hemisphere, the altitude of the Sun causes the sunlight to hit that hemisphere at an oblique angle. In regions experiencing winter, the amount of solar radiation is spread out over a larger area. This effect is compounded by the distance that the light must travel through the atmosphere. Compared with these effects, the changes in the distance of the earth from the sun are negligible, the manifestation of the meteorological winter in the northerly snow–prone parallels is highly variable depending on elevation, position versus marine winds and the amount of precipitation. A case in point is Canada, a country associated with tough winters. Winnipeg on the Great Plains at a distance from large bodies of water has a January high of −11.3 °C. In comparison, Vancouver on the coast with an influence from moderating Pacific winds has a January low of 1.4 °C with days well above freezing at 6.9 °C. Both areas are on the 49th parallel north and in the western half of the continent. Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three months with the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January or February in the Northern Hemisphere and in June, July or August in the Southern Hemisphere. Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays, diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °F due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface based air
5.
Spring (season)
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Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. There are various definitions of spring, but local usage of the term varies according to local climate, cultures. When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, at the spring equinox, days are approximately 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season progresses. Spring and springtime refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of other seasons, e. g. dry or wet, monsoonal or cyclonic. Often, cultures have locally defined names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in Europe, Spring is the time when many plants begin to grow and flower. Meteorologists generally define four seasons in many areas, spring, summer, autumn. These are demarcated by the values of their average temperatures on a monthly basis, the three warmest months are by definition summer, the three coldest months are winter and the intervening gaps are spring and autumn. Spring, when defined in this manner, can start on different dates in different regions, in most Northern Hemisphere, temperate locations, spring months are March, April and May, although differences exist from country to country. Most Southern Hemisphere, temperate locations have opposing seasons with spring in September, October and November, in Australia and New Zealand, spring conventionally begins on 1 September and ends 30 November. In some cultures in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical Vernal equinox is taken to mark the first day of spring, in Persian culture the first day of spring is the first day of the first month which begins on 20 or 21 March. In other traditions, the equinox is taken as mid-spring, similarly, according to the Celtic tradition, which is based solely on daylight and the strength of the noon sun, spring begins in early February and continues until early May. In Ireland, spring traditionally starts on February 1, St Brigids Day, the beginning of spring is not always determined by fixed calendar dates. These indicators, along with the beginning of spring, vary according to the local climate, most ecologists divide the year into six seasons that have no fixed dates. In addition to spring, ecological reckoning identifies an earlier separate prevernal season between the hibernal and vernal seasons and this is a time when only the hardiest flowers like the crocus are in bloom, sometimes while there is still some snowcover on the ground. During early spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the Sun, the hemisphere begins to warm significantly, causing new plant growth to spring forth, giving the season its name. Any snow begins to melt, swelling streams with runoff and any frosts become less severe, in climates that have no snow, and rare frosts, air and ground temperatures increase more rapidly. Many flowering plants bloom at this time of year, in a succession, sometimes beginning when snow is still on the ground. In normally snowless areas, spring may begin as early as February, heralded by the blooming of deciduous magnolias, cherries, and quince, or August in the same way
6.
Summer
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Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, falling between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, the date of the beginning of summer varies according to climate, tradition and culture. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, a variable seasonal lag means that the meteorological center of the season, which is based on average temperature patterns, occurs several weeks after the time of maximal insolation. Under meteorological definitions, all seasons are set to start at the beginning of a calendar month. This meteorological definition of summer also aligns with the commonly viewed notion of summer as the season with the longest days of the year, the meteorological reckoning of seasons is used in Australia, Austria, Denmark, the former Soviet Union and Japan. It is also used by many in the United Kingdom, in Ireland, the summer months according to the national meteorological service, Met Éireann, are June, July and August. However, according to the Irish Calendar, summer begins on 1 May, school textbooks in Ireland follow the cultural norm of summer commencing on 1 May rather than the meteorological definition of 1 June. Reckoning by hours of daylight alone, summer solstice marks the midpoint, not the beginning, midsummer takes place over the shortest night of the year, which is the summer solstice, or on a nearby date that varies with tradition. Where a seasonal lag of half a season or more is common, by this method, in North America, summer is the period from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox. The similar Canadian tradition starts summer on Victoria Day one week prior and ends, as in the United States, on Labour Day. In Chinese astronomy, summer starts on or around 5 May, with the known as lìxià, i. e. establishment of summer. In Australia and New Zealand, summer begins on 1 December. Summer is traditionally associated with hot or warm weather, in the Mediterranean regions, it is also associated with dry weather, while in other places it is associated with rainy weather. The wet season is the period of vegetation growth within the savanna climate regime. Where the wet season is associated with a shift in the prevailing winds. In the northern Atlantic Ocean, a tropical cyclone season occurs from 1 June to 30 November. The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is 10 September, the Northeast Pacific Ocean has a broader period of activity, but in a similar time frame to the Atlantic. The Northwest Pacific sees tropical cyclones year-round, with a minimum in February and March, in the North Indian basin, storms are most common from April to December, with peaks in May and November
7.
Storm
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A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or astronomical bodys atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. Heavy snowfall can allow special recreational activities to take place which would not be possible otherwise, the English word comes from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz meaning noise, tumult. Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops with a system of high pressure surrounding it and this combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds, such as the cumulonimbus. Small localized areas of low pressure can form from hot air rising off hot ground, resulting in smaller disturbances such as dust devils, There are many varieties and names for storms, Ice storm — Ice storms are one of the most dangerous forms of winter storms. When surface temperatures are below freezing, but a layer of above-freezing air remains aloft, rain can fall into the freezing layer. In general,8 millimetres of accumulation is all that is required, especially in combination with breezy conditions, Ice storms also make unheated road surfaces too slick to drive upon. Ice storms can vary in range from hours to days and can cripple small towns. Blizzard — There are varying definitions for blizzards, both time and by location. In general, a blizzard is accompanied by winds, heavy snow. Snow storms, especially ones with a liquid equivalent and breezy conditions, can down tree limbs, cut off power. Ocean Storm — Storm conditions out at sea are defined as having sustained winds of 48 knots or greater, usually just referred to as a storm, these systems can sink vessels of all types and sizes. Firestorm — Firestorms are conflagrations which attain such intensity that they create and it is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires. The Peshtigo Fire is one example of a firestorm, Firestorms can also be deliberate effects of targeted explosives such as occurred as a result of the aerial bombings of Dresden. Nuclear detonations generate firestorms if high winds are not present, dust devil — a small, localized updraft of rising air. Wind storm— A storm marked by high wind with little or no precipitation, windstorm damage often opens the door for massive amounts of water and debris to cause further damage to a structure. European windstorms and derechos are two type of windstorms, high wind is also the cause of sandstorms in dry climates. Squall — sudden onset of wind increase of at least 16 knots or greater sustained for at least one minute, gale — An extratropical storm with sustained winds between 34-48 knots. Thunderstorm — A thunderstorm is a type of storm that generates lightning and it is normally accompanied by heavy precipitation
8.
Cumulonimbus cloud
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If observed during a storm, these clouds may be referred to as thunderheads. Cumulonimbus can form alone, in clusters, or along cold front squall lines and these clouds are capable of producing lightning and other dangerous severe weather, such as tornadoes. Cumulonimbus progress from overdeveloped cumulus congestus clouds and may develop as part of a supercell. Cumulonimbus is abbreviated Cb and are designated in the D2 family, towering cumulonimbus clouds are typically accompanied by smaller cumulus clouds. The cumulonimbus base may extend several miles across and occupy low to middle altitudes- formed at altitude from approximately 200 to 4,000 m, peaks typically reach to as much as 40,000 ft, with extreme instances as high as 70,000 ft or more. Well-developed cumulonimbus clouds are characterized by a flat, anvil-like top, the shelf of the anvil may precede the main clouds vertical component for many miles, and be accompanied by lightning. Occasionally, rising air parcels surpass the level and form an overshooting top culminating at the maximum parcel level. When vertically developed, this largest of all clouds usually extends through all three cloud regions, even the smallest cumulonimbus cloud dwarfs its neighbors in comparison. Cumulonimbus calvus, cloud with puffy top, similar to cumulus congestus which it develops from, cumulonimbus capillatus, cloud with cirrus-like, fibrous-edged top. Cumulonimbus incus, cloud with anvil top Arcus, low, horizontal cloud formation associated with the edge of thunderstorm outflow. Pannus, accompanied by a layer of fractus species cloud forming in precipitation. Pileus, small cap-like cloud over parent cumulonimbus, velum, a thin horizontal sheet that forms around the middle of a cumulonimbus. Incus, cumulonimbus with flat anvil-like cirriform top caused by wind shear where the air currents hit the inversion layer at the tropopause. Mamma or mammatus, consisting of bubble-like protrusions on the underside, tuba, column hanging from the cloud base which can develop into a funnel cloud or tornado. They are known to very low, sometimes just 20 feet above ground level. Flanking line is a line of small cumulonimbus or cumulus generally associated with severe thunderstorms, rain, precipitation that reaches the ground as liquid, often in a precipitation shaft. Virga, precipitation that evaporates before reaching the ground, cumulonimbus storm cells can produce torrential rain of a convective nature and flash flooding, as well as straight-line winds. Most storm cells die after about 20 minutes, when the precipitation causes more downdraft than updraft, causing the energy to dissipate
9.
Arcus cloud
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An arcus cloud is a low, horizontal cloud formation, usually appearing as an accessory cloud to a cumulonimbus. Roll clouds and shelf clouds are the two types of arcus. Roll clouds also may arise in the absence of thunderstorms, forming along the cold air currents of some sea breeze boundaries. A shelf cloud is a low, horizontal, wedge-shaped arcus cloud, a shelf cloud is attached to the base of the parent cloud, which is usually a thunderstorm, but could form on any type of convective clouds. Rising cloud motion often can be seen in the part of the shelf cloud, while the underside often appears turbulent. Cool, sinking air from a storm clouds downdraft spreads out across the land surface and this outflow cuts under warm air being drawn into the storms updraft. As the lower cooler air lifts the warm moist air, its water condenses, creating a cloud which often rolls with the different winds above, people seeing a shelf cloud may believe they have seen a wall cloud. This is likely a mistake, since an approaching shelf cloud appears to form a wall made of cloud, a shelf cloud usually appears on the leading edge of a storm, and a wall cloud will usually be at the rear of the storm. A sharp, strong gust front will cause the lowest part of the edge of a shelf cloud to be ragged and lined with rising fractus clouds. In a severe case there will be vortices along the edge, a very low shelf cloud accompanied by these signs is the best indicator that a potentially violent wind squall is approaching. An extreme example of this phenomenon looks almost like a tornado and is known as a gustnado, a roll cloud is a low, horizontal, tube-shaped, and relatively rare type of arcus cloud. They differ from shelf clouds by being completely detached from other cloud features, roll clouds usually appear to be rolling about a horizontal axis. They are a wave called a soliton, which is a wave that has a single crest. One of the most famous frequent occurrences is the Morning Glory cloud in Queensland, Australia, one of the main causes of the Morning Glory cloud is the mesoscale circulation associated with sea breezes that develop over the Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, similar features can be created by downdrafts from thunderstorms and are not exclusively associated with coastal regions. Coastal roll clouds have been seen in places, including California, the English Channel, Shetland Islands, the North Sea coast, coastal regions of Australia. Archived from the original on July 15,2013
10.
Microburst
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A microburst is a small downdraft that moves in a way opposite to a tornado. Microbursts are found in strong thunderstorms, there are two types of microbursts within a thunderstorm, wet microbursts and dry microbursts. They go through three stages in their cycle, the downburst, outburst, and cushion stages, a microburst can be particularly dangerous to aircraft, especially during landing, due to the wind shear caused by its gust front. A microburst often has high winds that can knock over fully grown trees and they usually last from a couple of seconds to several minutes. Fujita also coined the term macroburst for downbursts larger than 4 km, a distinction can be made between a wet microburst which consists of precipitation and a dry microburst which typically consists of virga. Microbursts are recognized as capable of generating wind speeds higher than 75 m/s, Microbursts have also been called air bombs. When rain falls below the base or is mixed with dry air, it begins to evaporate. The cool air descends and accelerates as it approaches the ground, when the cool air approaches the ground, it spreads out in all directions and this divergence of the wind is the signature of the microburst. High winds spread out in type of pattern showing little or no curvature are known as straight-line winds. Wet microbursts are downbursts accompanied by significant precipitation at the surface which are warmer than their environment and these downbursts rely more on the drag of precipitation for downward acceleration of parcels than negative buoyancy which tend to drive dry microbursts. As a result, higher mixing ratios are necessary for these downbursts to form, melting of ice, particularly hail, appears to play an important role in downburst formation, especially in the lowest 1 km above ground level. These factors, among others, make forecasting wet microbursts a difficult task, the evolution of downbursts is broken down into three stages, the contact stage, the outburst stage, and the cushion stage. The virtual temperature correction usually is small and to a good approximation. In some storms this term has an effect on updrafts but there is not much reason to believe it has much of an impact on downdrafts. The second term is the effect of buoyancy on vertical motion, clearly, in the case of microbursts, one expects to find that B is negative meaning the parcel is cooler than its environment. This cooling typically takes place as a result of phase changes, precipitation particles that are small, but are in great quantity, promote a maximum contribution to cooling and, hence, to creation of negative buoyancy. The major contribution to this process is from evaporation, the last term is the effect of water loading. Whereas evaporation is promoted by large numbers of small droplets, it requires a few large drops to contribute substantially to the downward acceleration of air parcels
11.
Haboob
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A haboob is a type of intense dust storm carried on an atmospheric gravity current, also known as a weather front. Haboobs occur regularly in arid regions throughout the world, during thunderstorm formation, winds move in a direction opposite to the storms travel, and they move from all directions into the thunderstorm. When the storm collapses, and begins to release precipitation, wind directions reverse, gusting outward from the storm, Haboobs can also form when a strong thunderstorm weakens rapidly, and releases a microburst. When this downdraft of cold air, or downburst, reaches the ground, it blows dry, loose silt and clay up from the desert and this wall of dust can be up to 100 km wide and several kilometers in elevation. At their strongest, haboob winds often travel at 35–100 km/h, often rain does not appear at ground level as it evaporates in the hot, dry air. The evaporation cools the air even further and accelerates it. Occasionally, when the rain does persist, it can contain a quantity of dust. Severe cases are called mud storms, eye and respiratory system protection are advisable for anyone who must be outside during a haboob. Moving to shelter is highly advised during a strong event, Haboobs have been observed in the Sahara desert, as well as across the Arabian Peninsula, throughout Kuwait, and in the most arid regions of Iraq. Haboob winds in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Kuwait are frequently created by the collapse of a thunderstorm, african haboobs result from the northward summer shift of the inter-tropical front into North Africa, bringing moisture from the Gulf of Guinea. Haboobs in Australia may be associated with cold fronts. As with haboobs in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Kuwait, the arid and semiarid regions of North America—in fact, any dry region—may experience haboobs. In North America, the most common terms for these events are either dust storm or sandstorm. In the U. S. they frequently occur in the deserts of Arizona, including around the cities of Yuma and Phoenix, in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, in eastern California, and in Texas. They also sometimes accur in the Columbia Basin, of Eastern Washington, if the storms are strong enough, they can reach as far east as the Rathdrum Prairie and the Palouse, in the Idaho Panhandle Global dust storms on Mars have been compared to haboobs on Earth. Haboob Photos @ HikeArizona. COM Haboobs, Arizona Department of Transportation, the Bibliography of Aeolian Research Haboob on Winds of the World Short Video of the 5 July 2011 Arizona Haboob on YouTube Time-lapse video of the 5 July 2011 Arizona Haboob
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "article name needed". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
