Dust Storm Warning Issued for Maricopa County Until Midnight MST
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on August 20, 2026, 3 days ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
NWS Phoenix has issued a Dust Storm Warning for Maricopa County until midnight MST due to a dust channel producing near-zero visibility and winds over 50 mph.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Dust Storm Warning
- Affected area
- Maricopa County, Arizona
- Issued
- August 20, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Phoenix AZ
Storm notices can cover different combinations of wind, hail, lightning, and rainfall. Use the original notice for the hazards and boundaries attached to this specific record.
Record status: historical. It was issued 3 days ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Alert Details
A Dust Storm Warning was issued by the National Weather Service in Phoenix AZ on August 19 at 10:59 PM MST. The alert is effective immediately and remains in effect until August 20 at 12:00 AM MST.
Affected Areas
The warning covers Maricopa County in south central Arizona. Locations impacted include Goodyear, Buckeye, Tonopah, Palo Verde, Perryville, White Tank Mountain Park, Liberty, Painted Rock Dam, Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station, Wintersburg, Estrella Mountain Ranch, Hassayampa, and Arlington. Affected highways include AZ Interstate 10 between mile markers 81 and 126, AZ Route 85 between mile markers 138 and 154, and AZ Route 303 between mile markers 105 and 111.
What You Should Do
Dust storms are unhealthy and have been known to lead to Valley Fever. Avoid outdoor exposure. If driving, avoid dust storms if possible. If caught in one, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep your foot off the brake. Motorists should not drive into a dust storm. PULL ASIDE STAY ALIVE!
Expected Conditions
At 10:59 PM MST, a dust channel was near Buckeye, moving west at 30 mph. Hazard includes less than a quarter mile visibility with strong wind in excess of 50 mph. Impact includes dangerous life-threatening travel.
Timeline
The Dust Storm Warning is in effect from August 19 at 10:59 PM MST until August 20 at 12:00 AM MST.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
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Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (1,376 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to August 20, 2026.
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