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June 15, 2014, was destined to be a bad weather day for the people of Oman. For days, forecasters had been watching Tropical Cyclone Nanauk track northwest toward the country’s shores. It was expected to make landfall on June 15, but the advancing Southwest Monsoon intervened with winds that carried very dry Middle Eastern air into the core of Tropical Cyclone Nanauk. The storm fell apart.
Instead, strong northwesterly winds prevailed, so on June 15, many in Oman saw dust instead of rain and floods. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of the dust storm at 1:45 p.m. local time. The dust blurs land features and extends out over the Arabian Sea.
The winds and resulting dust reduced visibility, leading to warnings throughout the region. The winds also caused high waves in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/15/2014
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC