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There's nothing more harrowing than witnessing a huge wall of sand barreling in from the desert, about to consume everything standing in its way. While most common in dry, arid regions, they sometimes catch cities and temperate areas by surprise.

Browse this gallery and be blown away by these powerful images of intense storms from across the planet.

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A huge sandstorm approaching Merzouga in Morocco's Erg Chebbi Desert.

▲Beijing's Tiananmen Square is seen in a sepia wash amid a sandstorm sweeping through the Chinese capital.

▲A mountainous dust storm moving through the desert near Yuma, Arizona.

▲A highway into Dubai is taken over by shifting sand displaced after a storm.

▲A massive wall of dust rolling into a rural area west of Phoenix, Arizona. This storm came in at night and was only revealed when lightning flashed near it. These storms are also called haboobs.

▲The sky turns red over buildings in Canary Wharf as dust from the Sahara carried by storm Ophelia filters sunlight over London.

▲The beginning of something bigger across the sand dunes of Hunder in the Nubra Valley, in Ladakh state.

▲The city of Zhangye in Gansu province prepares to be hit by an enormous wall of sand.

▲Traffic is reduced to a crawl on a bridge over the Nile River during a heavy sandstorm in Cairo.

▲Seen through a turbulent sky that resembles an artist's palette, storm clouds and dust can be seen above Mollymook Beach, south of Sydney.

▲A breakaway group of bike riders cycle into a sandstorm during the Tour of Oman.

▲A woman covers her face against a particularly vicious sandstorm on a street in Tianjin.

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A wall of dust rises in Death Valley National Park in California.

▲The road out of the country's capital Windhoek is about to disappear, a common occurrence in this nation of sand.

▲A British Army soldier walks through a sandstorm at the Kandahar Airfield.

▲A camper van parked in the way of an encroaching sandstorm at Monument Valley, Utah.

▲A driver's view of a huge bank of sand bearing down on a street outside the city of Almaty.

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A dust storm approaches the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

▲Hindu devotees endure a dust storm while heading towards the Shri Hinglaj Mata Temple in the country's Balochistan province.

▲A US forces base is about to feel the brunt of a sandstorm barreling in from the western desert near Al Asad.

▲A light dusting of sand gathers tell-tale pace across a California highway.

▲A section of the famous Route 66 in Nevada is about to disappear under a cloud of dust.

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Even the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, is nearly engulfed by this giant sandstorm devouring Dubai.

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An enormous rolling wall of sand barrels towards Sudan's capital city of Khartoum.

See also: Nature's warning signs before disaster strikes

Powerful images of sandstorms, dust storms, and haboobs

When Mother Nature kicks up a storm

30/04/25 por StarsInsider

LIFESTYLE Weather

There's nothing more harrowing than witnessing a huge wall of sand barreling in from the desert, about to consume everything standing in its way. While most common in dry, arid regions, they sometimes catch cities and temperate areas by surprise.

Browse this gallery and be blown away by these powerful images of intense storms from across the planet.

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