remembering the Bastille Day mud storm
Posted by Zonie on July 15, 2022 at 07:20:03
As recreation, it was a missed opportunity, but I remember that today was the 20th anniversary of the Bastille Day mud storm. On July 14th, 2002 a thunderstorm outflow boundary created a dust storm that blew through Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and northeastern Phoenix. This displaced the hot, humid air ahead of it, forming another thunderstorm cell from which rain fell through the blowing dust.
I found out later it hadn't been very popular. I would probably have loved it, but I missed it. It was a Sunday evening, and I had to get up early for work the next day, and I turned in early and slept through it.
I did get to deal with the aftermath, but that was drudgery. I had the misfortune at that time to be working as a groundskeeper and swimming pool operator for an upscale apartment community in central Scottsdale. I was responsible for the care and maintenance of two swimming pools, and through repeated vacuuming and backwashing, it took me two days to rehabilitate those pools to the point that they were fit for use by the tenants. Then I had to go home and rehabilitate my own pool.