Dust Storm Warning Issued for Pima and Pinal Counties in Arizona
This alert is no longer in effect.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 Tucson has issued a Dust Storm Warning for northeastern Pima County and central Pinal County until 8:45 PM MST due to blowing dust reducing visibility.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Dust Storm Warning
- Affected area
- Southeastern Arizona
- Issued
- August 20, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Tucson 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 Southeastern Arizona.
Alert Details
Dust Storm Warning issued by NWS Tucson AZ. Effective from August 19, 2026 at 7:08 PM MST until August 19, 2026 at 8:45 PM MST. Severity: Severe. Certainty: Likely. Urgency: Expected.
Affected Areas
Northeastern Pima County and central Pinal County in southeastern Arizona. Locations impacted include Tucson, Catalina, Oro Valley, Marana, Casas Adobes, Eloy, Flowing Wells, Saddlebrooke, Avra Valley, Saddlebrooke Ranch, Tortolita, Picacho, Pinal Airpark, Picacho Peak State Park, Saguaro National Park West, Catalina State Park, Tucson Mountain Park, Tucson Estates and Catalina Foothills. Affected highways include Route 79 between mile markers 92 and 128, Route 87 between mile markers 116 and 124, Route 77 between mile markers 70 and 93, and Interstate 10 between mile markers 205 and 259.
What You Should Do
Motorists should not drive into a dust storm. PULL ASIDE STAY ALIVE! If caught in one, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep your foot off the brake. Delay travel or safely exit the highway before the dust storm arrives. Infants, the elderly and those with respiratory issues urged to take precautions.
Expected Conditions
At 7:08 PM MST, an area of blowing dust was located near Flowing Wells moving northwest at 10 mph. Hazard: Less than a quarter mile visibility. Impact: Dangerous life-threatening travel.
Timeline
Alert effective August 19, 2026 at 7:08 PM MST and expires August 19, 2026 at 8:45 PM 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 (1,467 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to August 20, 2026.
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