A strange thing happened night before last

As it’s hot season, evening temperatures in the low 30s (Celsius) are quite normal, so it was still 34 C when I went to bed. Around midnight, I heard leaves rustling outside and glanced outside to see a VERY STRONG wind blowing across our yard. So strong, in fact, that in blew our entire bougainvillia hedge to the ground:

The other strange thing was that the temperature had risen to 36 C; very unusual seeing as it had been dark for five hours or so. Where was the heat coming from, if not the sun?! Well, the next day, folk were saying it was a sand storm, though in the dark I didn’t see much sand or dust!

A colleague of mine experienced an impressive sand storm a few years ago – have a butcher’s at this:

INCREDIBLE! Not sure I’d want to be out in one of these. Look, here’s another shot:

If this happens, the only thing you can do is retreat indoors (or into a car) and wait until it passes. If you’re out in it, I’m sure it would not be very pleasant! From inside, though, you can take photos like this one:

Thanks to Jutta for allowing me to use these photos.

And thanks to all of you for reading…