www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13023407
A freak sandstorm that swept across a motorway in northern Germany caused a multiple pile-up, leaving eight people dead and dozens injured.
|
Absolutely horrendous.
We used to occasionally experience a sirocco in Tenerife blowing sand from north africa,
everywhere would be covered in sand + it would be sooo hot it was like being inside an oven!
www.world-weather-travellers-guide.com/weather-in-tenerife.html
|
|
Similar dust storms can occur here, particularly in the Eastern counties. Called the "Fen Blow' I believe and occurs in the spring on ploughed land in dry weather before the crops begin to grow.
|
|
Eerie ... The music sounds like Brian Eno (but isn't)
|
Some places on the North East coast get a thick sea mist known as a 'sea fret'.
|
|
You can get that in Norfolk too. Used to live near the coast and in spring would sometimes not see the sun although a few miles inland was perfectly clear
|
>> Some places on the North East coast get a thick sea mist known as a
>> 'sea fret'.
>>
Or Haar if you venture north of the Tyne.
|
|
we used to get hoar frost in Essex...
|
>> we used to get hoar frost in Essex...
>>
Not 200' deep like Haar you didn't.
|
Up on Bodmin Moor (or any moor) you get these thick mists that descend rapidly, making what was a few minutes earlier, familiar ground, quite undefinable all too quickly.
There are also boggy areas (peat) that I know for a fact devoured WW2 US Tanks training for D Day + many ponies,
When I returned from Tenerife, my first port of call was old Laurie up in his remote cottage,
it was August and the weather was terrific so I decided to camp out on the moor in my tent.
I'd set the tent up earlier when it was light, and left Lauri's after dark to head for my tent,
the Cornish mist descended rapidly like a thick blanket, and I got lost - up on the moor - in the dark - in the mist,
no way could I find that blimmin tent, so, I decided to head back to the cottage and eventually, after many quite frightening encounters with said bog, I got back to Lauri's cottage, only to find he's gone to bed, I didn't want to disturb him as he was recovering from an aortic stent op, so I ended up sleeping in my LH drive diesel Citroen AX (again!)
|
|
so it wasnt the hound of the baskervilles in the fog, it was Dog trying to find way back!
|
|
I think yoor on t'wrong moor effendi :)
|
I've seen southern England lightly coated with what can only be Sahara dust on more than a couple of occasions. It doesn't often get high enough in the atmosphere to reach here though. And it's just a light deposit.
Presumably the German dust storm was from northern or central Europe, local so to speak. Very large scale arable farming does have effects one of which is a greater potential for dust storms than there would have been in the Middle Ages.
To desert people dust or sandstorms are like rain or snow to people who get those. The children skip about laughing in it at first like Asian children when the monsoon starts. But it's bad weather really and can sometimes go on for days reducing visibility to 20 yards. The fine dust gets everywhere, food, water, eyes, camera lenses, machine gun actions... weapons are run dry in the desert, oil turns to grinding paste... ophthalmic illnesses are common in all big deserts. People crouch in the lee of their camels or vehicles, can't even make tea, wait for it to pass...
There are a lot of vehicles in some parts of the desert, and they disturb weathered, settled surfaces releasing large amounts of new dust. If the wind's strong in the wrong direction, people downwind of busy areas can suffer. Some sandstorms are really man-made.
|
Could happen to East Anglia, given the right (wrong) conditions i.e. severe drought + extensive farming.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dust-storm-Texas-1935.png
|
|
Or if in Scotland a Norse word - HAAR. Same thing a mist/fog in off the sea.
|
>> Similar dust storms can occur here, particularly in the Eastern counties. Called the "Fen Blow'
>> I believe and occurs in the spring on ploughed land in dry weather before the
>> crops begin to grow.
I had a mild version of this when I was on an Audi club day driving through the fens. The dust was blowing across the road, but not high enough to reduce visibility. So much of the soil fertility must be lost in this way. I don't know the history of the fens - did they used to have hedges on the perimeters of the fields? This certainly helps to keep top soil from blowing away. The farmers around me have been planting hedges for the past few years now. I have really noticed the increase in birds and wildlife.
|
|
I know it's not the same, but I went through a cloud of soil being blown off dry fields and it got into the brake drums of the all-drum car that I had at the time. It seriously affected the brakes on one side.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sun 10 Apr 11 at 16:21
|
Am I the only one. . . . . .
The storm did not cause the accident, inattentive drivers did.
|
>>The storm did not cause the accident, inattentive drivers did.<<
It's easy to say that, friend, but mist/fog/snowstorms/sandstorms can descend quite quickly catching you unawares
plus it only takes one slightly nervous or inexperienced driver to slam their anchors on,
and then it's a case of open up the pearly gates :(
|
From what I remember there is a small but significant percentage of very dangerous German motorway drivers. They tailgate each other in trains of up to 15 cars, wet or dry, at very high speeds, well over 100mph. This technique enables everyone in the train to exceed their cars' normal still-air maximum speeds, and at any speed would enable drivers to use a lower throttle opening.
First time I saw it, in rain, I thought, one false move by anyone and this road will be a pool table. I am not a speed-kills wonk at all, and I don't often think things like that. Later saw a mile-long mass shunt (in the other carriageway thank goodness) still steaming, with lorries over cars and so on, a right mess, and small peripheral shunts going back even further.
Yes, sandstorm schmandstorm. It was German motorway driving probably.
|
Germany: Freak sandstorm causes deadly mway crash. - Dave_
