This web page broadly identifies and describes the dust storm hazard that Oregon faces. It also highlights plans, assessment tools and resources that have been developed regarding the dust storm hazard, including resources that identify, profile and assess the vulnerability and risk from dust storm events in Oregon.

DUST STORM OVERVIEW

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A dust storm is a strong, violent wind that carries fine particles such as silt, sand, clay, and other materials, often for long distances. The fine particles swirl around in the air during the storm. Dust storms can spread over hundreds of miles and have wind speeds of at least 25 miles per hour.

Dust storms occur most frequently over deserts and regions of dry soil. However, they can happen in any dry area where loose dirt can easily be picked up by wind.  Approximately half of the dust in today's atmosphere results from environmental changes caused by human activity, including agriculture, overgrazing, and the cutting of forests. Data from dust traps near urban areas like Las Vegas show that the spread of housing and other human construction across the desert directly causes increases in dust storms by destabilizing the surface and vegetation.

Research in North-Central Oregon and South-Central Washington indicates that the region's dust problem isn't simply a matter of soil being redistributed from one field to another by the wind. Fine particulate becomes suspended in the air and may travel thousands of miles. Scientists indicate that the region is losing soil.

Dust storms, which can have varied impacts, usually arrive with little warning and travel as large walls of dust and debris. The dust is blinding, threatening driver safety. A dust storm may last only a few minutes at any given location, but they often result in serious car accidents, occasionally massive pileups. Erosion of topsoil, dust in electronic equipment and aircraft engines, and poor air quality are common results of dust storms. However, dust storms are positive in a way as well; dust and ash deposited on the ground in new locations is eventually soaked into the soil by rain, providing important nutrients for plants in those locations.

SUMMARY OF OREGON’S VULNERABILITY TO DUST STORMS

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The arid regions of Central and Eastern Oregon can experience sudden dust storms on windy days. These are produced by the interaction of strong winds, fine-grained surface material, and landscapes with little vegetation. The winds involved can be as small as "dust devils" or as large as fast moving regional air masses.

Farmers, ranchers, homeowners, resort owners, and wildlife in Central and Southeast Oregon sometimes find themselves vying for limited water. Competition for scarce water can affect the locations and amounts of dust in the atmosphere that’s blown on the wind.