Worse than fog

[Quick GMC]

This is the visibility here, near Palm Springs. Sometimes the desert is beautiful....sometimes.

Right behind those cars is a large bulding. The palm trees are wiggling back and forth and our showroom is covered in sand. I cancelled all my appointments and ordered pizza. I felt bad for the pizza guy.

Wind expected to reach 75mph and we're pretty close right now. What's scary is the window in front of my face is the only one in the building that faces West, and the wind is blowing East. Hopefully I don't catch some glass to the face before I go home

Edited March 26, 2014 by Quick GMC

[Rob Hall]

Yes, dust storms or haboobs are no fun..we get huge ones here in the Phoenix metro area occasionally...had one yesterday, I wasn't out in it though...pretty windy today again...

Edited March 26, 2014 by Rob Hall

[Ace-Garageguy]

Maybe for the drive home?

[Quick GMC]

I have to drive directly into it to get home. My wife has our 3 month old and she has to drive into it also. with our doors closed there is an inch of sand everywhere inside. Next to our building is 1000's of acres of open desert. Not fun.

Not to mention we own granite shop. We have a couple hundred slabs of granite taking the wind to the broad sides. They weigh 800+ lbs each and if the wind gets in between them they flap around like cardboard.

[Rob Hall]

The constant presence of sand and dust is one the things I hate about living here, along w/ the summer oven heat..got to get away. I don't think the desert is fit for human habitation...LOL

Edited March 26, 2014 by Rob Hall

[cobraman]

Gotta keep your air filters clean out here !

[Harry P.]

Look on the bright side... free sandblasting!

[Belugawrx]

Snow'd again here last night.....still below zero.... but,

Mmmmmm...... nope, no sun

That does look scary tho!

[Quick GMC]

Look on the bright side... free sandblasting!

yeah, to my truck.

I really want to claim sand damage this year, but there is almost no point, it will happen again.

the sound from inside your car when you get blasted makes you cringe. You can hear each sand particle slicing at your paint.

[cobraman]

I guess no matter where you live there is always something.

[High octane]

That seems to be true Ray, there are many natural hazards like snow, sand storms, tornados, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, extreme heat or cold, ice storms, sleet, hail, floods, mud slides, wildfires, draught, and probably several more that I've missed.

[Tom Geiger]

the sound from inside your car when you get blasted makes you cringe. You can hear each sand particle slicing at your paint.

one of the worse sounds I heard against a car was in Utah. We went to Antelope Island, which is in the Great Salt Lake. The marshes around it breed gnats like crazy and you couldn't walk outside your car without breathing them in. In fact when we got out of the car to take pictures, every time a bunch of gnats got in. It was awful. As we drove on the island maybe going 35mph, it sounded like a rain storm. It was us driving through the gnats. Thick as soup!

[Rob Hall]

I guess no matter where you live there is always something.

Yes...I've lived in an area prone to hurricanes and flooding, an area prone to tornadoes and blizzards, a place prone to ice storms, a place prone to blizzards, and now a place prone to dust storms/haboobs and extreme heat. Humid places, dry places. Sunny places, cloudy gray places. Hot places, cold places. Haven't lived in an earthquake prone area, but maybe that's next..wherever you go, there you are.

[High octane]

Guess one just has to pick an area to live, and adapt to the conditions. If you should move to get away from those conditions, there will just be other conditions. So it's six of one, or a half a dozen of the other.

[cobraman]

Yes...I've lived in an area prone to hurricanes and flooding, an area prone to tornadoes and blizzards, a place prone to ice storms, a place prone to blizzards, and now a place prone to dust storms/haboobs and extreme heat. Humid places, dry places. Sunny places, cloudy gray places. Hot places, cold places. Haven't lived in an earthquake prone area, but maybe that's next..wherever you go, there you are.

You sound like you lived in a lot of places. Someone chasing you ? X wife problems ? : )

[Rob Hall]

You sound like you lived in a lot of places. Someone chasing you ? X wife problems ? : )

Nah, career and life......born in Ohio, folks retired to the Florida Keys when I was 12, so went to high school down there, back to NE Ohio for college, Michigan for grad school, lived in Colorado for over a decade, now AZ.

[Quick GMC]

I lived in Florida for 8 months for school. 1 month after I left, a hurricane ripped the roof off the school.

with the earthquakes, sandstorms and 120 degree heat, I'm happy with where I live. I hate traffic and I'm scared of hurricanes and tornadoes. I don't mind a little shakin' . I'm not going anywhere.

[Tom Geiger]

Yes...I've lived in an area prone to hurricanes and flooding, an area prone to tornadoes and blizzards, a place prone to ice storms, a place prone to blizzards, and now a place prone to dust storms/haboobs and extreme heat. Humid places, dry places. Sunny places, cloudy gray places. Hot places, cold places. Haven't lived in an earthquake prone area, but maybe that's next..wherever you go, there you are.

Yea but you haven't lived until you live in an area prone to jihad!

[Rob Hall]

Yea but you haven't lived until you live in an area prone to jihad!

Heh-heh...well, true. But I did have an opportunity to live in Saudi Arabia as a kid (my Dad was considering a job in Riyadh, we went over there for a week, my Mom didn't like it).

Earthquake zones may be in my future..I like San Diego, Orange County CA, LA, Portland and Seattle and they are great places for my kind of work w/ a lot of culture and interesting weather and scenery, and a bit cheaper than the SF Bay area (I've had several interviews and job offers in the San Jose/Sunnyvale area in the past but timing/etc wasn't right). I'd like to live in a coastal area close to beaches again.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Rob Hall

[Quick GMC]

the whole country is cheaper than the CA Bay area. Well one side of the bay anyway. My friend rents a house in Huntington Beach in a good neighborhood for $1500-ish a month. You can live more inland too and still get to the beach in 20 minutes

[Tom Geiger]

Heh-heh...well, true. But I did have an opportunity to live in Saudi Arabia as a kid (my Dad was considering a job in Riyadh, we went over there for a week, my Mom didn't like it).

Wow you reminded me! When I was a kid, my father was US Army assigned to NATO in Izmir, Turkey. The climate of Arizona, earthquakes and Jihad!

Back in 1967 or so we did have two close brushes with war. We were sailing on an Israeli cruise ship when the Seven Day War broke out. So we got to go to Libya! Yea! Then back in Izmir the Turks and the Greeks were sparring and threatening each other. Greek fighter jets would taunt over Izmir and I can imagine the Turks did the same to Greece. The US sent the Sixth Fleet into Izmir Harbor and picked up all the US military dependents. We got to spend a week or so on a ship sitting out in the Aegean Sea. That was a great adventure for a 9 year old!

Edited March 27, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[Rob Hall]

Wow you reminded me! When I was a kid, my father was US Army assigned to NATO in Izmir, Turkey. The climate of Arizona, earthquakes and Jihad!

Back in 1967 or so we did have two close brushes with war. We were sailing on an Israeli cruise ship when the Seven Day War broke out. So we got to go to Libya! Yea! Then back in Izmir the Turks and the Greeks were sparring and threatening each other. Greek fighter jets would taunt over Izmir and I can imagine the Turks did the same to Greece. The US sent the Sixth Fleet into Izmir Harbor and picked up all the US military dependents. We got to spend a week or so on a ship sitting out in the Aegean Sea. That was a great adventure for a 9 year old!

No doubt... my sister and brother had a lot of family adventures in the '60s before I was born...my Dad worked for the US Government and the family lived in the South Pacific for several years..Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, the Philippines..they moved back to Ohio the year before I was born.

[Greg Myers]

Guess this is the place to ask this question as it will surely be moved here anyway.

I just installed a set of factory "fog" lights on my new Nissan Maxima .just as many other new vehicles these lights only work when the regular lights are on. This seems to be counter productive to me. I've had fog lights on other vehicles through the years and they worked quite well as auxiliary lights and especially in the fog, cutting the glare, they were also all of the yellow type which my new ones are not.

So , do I proceed and apply the yellow film to the new lights in the hope that it will give the desired effect?

Edited March 27, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Rob Hall]

Hmm..good question..not of the rationale for the yellow fog lights..better in fog that clear whitish light? I know that with my cars with clear fog/driving lights they can be turned on with the low beams or parking lights on. The yellow fog lights on my sister's old M-Bs can be turned on when all the other lights are off also.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Rob Hall

[Greg Myers]

For some reason, popular wisdom of today is "fog" lights only with low beams, not separate.