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

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

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

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United Arab Emirates - A highway into Dubai is taken over by shifting sand displaced after a storm.

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USA - 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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USA -

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

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

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

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

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

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USA -

A dust storm approaches the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

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

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

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

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

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United Arab Emirates -

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

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Sudan -

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

See also: Nature's warning signs before disaster strikes

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