Dust, dust, and more dust.

Prior to moving here, when I thought of about a sand/dust storm, I pictured something entirely different. (Picture a scene out the movies where a wall of sand or dirt is coming towards you at an impossibly high rate of speed and you are running away from it.) That is really not what it’s like at all and I can’t decide if I’m disappointed or relieved. When these storms come it’s more like a heavy fog (only it’s not moisture in the air, its sand and dirt). Usually there is a strong breeze here, but on days when there is a storm it is very still. It looks cloudy and foggy, but if you look closely, it’s not clouds at all. It’s not a pleasant experience to be outside on these days. Within seconds of coming outside, you feel like you’ve been eating out of the sandbox again (come on…you all know you’ve done it in the past!) and every available surface is covered in dust. I actually got mad at the pool guys for doing such a lousy job of cleaning the pool until someone explained the whole thing to me (they come and clean and the bottom is covered in sand in minutes). Also with my lack of experience in this area, I assumed that they were a quick phenomenon, but they actually last several days (again…not pleasant).
The two pictures that I have included are taken from the same place (our roof). The first is on a normal day here in Abu Dhabi and the second is during a dust storm.