On January 29, 2013, a dust storm blew though northern Mexico. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image the same day. Dust mingled with clouds over parts of Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas.
The dust was thickest over El Barreal, an impermanent lake in northern Mexico. Fine sediments from that lake bed likely comprised the dust particles in the storm. The winds that stirred the dust apparently affected the surrounding region; the same day that MODIS acquired this image, weather reports from Las Cruces, New Mexico, described gusty winds and hazy conditions caused by blowing dust.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Michon Scott.
