2011-11-30 (Wednesday)

A visit to Death Valley National Parks' Stovepipe Wells resort during a windstorm.


Fly to Las Vegas then drive to Death Valley National Park - Stovepipe Wells resort to assist with various network infrastructure tasks. While there, a windstorm passed through which kicked up sand and dust - clouding the nice views and carrying grit to spots you'd not normally expect. The numerous (perhaps 40+) three second long power outages were a curious experience which tested the powered items. It was fortunate to be there when the weather passed through to see how the network infrastructure handled the event.

145 mile trip between the airport and resort




Video
A short clip of the blowing sand & dust
MPEG-1 format, 23 seconds, 3.6MB
JimWilliamson.net-2011-11-30-stovepipe-wells-windstorm.mpg


Tuesday morning before the winds and stirred sand & dust arrive. Clear views to the mountains surrounding the resort.




Looking up the valley a bit. The winds are approaching and the stirred sand & dust is starting to block views of the mountains.




I walked outside moving to a different building, eating an apple as I went, only to see that even now there's a fair bit of grit in the air. As the event progressed, some points had you covering your eyes.




Panorama photo
Click for a larger size




Panorama
Click for a larger size

Looking up the valley. You can see ridgeline at the left side of the photo but it is obscured by the dust cloud in the right side of the photo.