dust on same building

dust on same building
Originally uploaded by ASIA TRACKS

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!!!!!!

Yesterday was a normal day until about 1600 (4:00 p.m.). We noticed that the sun didn't seem too bright, but did not think much of it. Then, all of a sudden, Judy mentioned that it was really dusty outside. A frontal system began moving through the area; the wind began to howl. Since it has been dry since the beginning part of November, it is very dusty here. Dust is on all of the tree leaves and the streets are also dusty. The water trucks go down the busiest streets every day spraying a large amount of water on them in an effort to keep the dust at a manageable level.
As she looked outside, Judy saw a LARGE amount of dust and dirt being blown from the very large apartment buildings not too far from us. These buildings are 15 stories high at least and have another floor of decorations on top. They tower over our little six floor building. Since they are just being constructed, there is dirt everywhere. We can not open our windows much at all, because of all of the dirt that just normally blows from them toward us. Well, when that wind began to howl, you should have seen the enormous dirt cloud that was put up into the air!! I told Judy that it seemed like you could even taste the dirt in the air inside our house.
From the back of our apartment, you can see the downtown skyline. There are five other big, multiple-storied apartment complexes being built uptown. The same thing was happening up there. It looked just like the old time pictures that we all have seen of the Dust Bowl period in the US. The dust was billowing out of the buildings just like heavy smoke would in a fire.
Oh, did we get any rain? Just a sprinkle. It hardly settled the dust that was now sifting down around us. Rainy season is just three months away and then that dust problem will go away.