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Arctic air creates massive dust storm seen from space

Posted at 5:55 PM, Nov 11, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-11 18:23:06-05

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — From the Rockies to the heartland, ferocious winds are ripping across the Plains, bringing freezing temperatures as far south as Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.

On Monday, a storm front caused temperatures to drop by about 50 degrees in the course of one day. That same storm front also created a massive dust storm, visible from space reportedKWGN.

Amanda Wicks was flying from Los Angeles to Chicago when she saw the leading edge of the storm. She took a photo and posted it on Twitter.

The definition you see in her picture is the boundary between the cold front and warmer air, which is being pushed out of the way.

This type of dust storm is called a Haboob. The National Weather Service also posted a photo of the Haboob from one of its satellites.

Residents in the northern United States can thank Super Typhoon Nuri for this mess.

It is the strongest post-tropical cyclone on record in the North Pacific, the NWS said.

The storm system plowed into all that arctic cold air in Alaska and northern Canada, forcing it south.

That Artic air is expected in the Central Virginia region by around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Richmond itself will see about a 30-plus-degree drop.