Adding to the pile catastrophic events that welcomed 2020, a wall of sand engulfed buildings, as a sandstorm swept across the city of Niamey in West Africa, rolling across the capital city's landscape on Monday.
According to Express UK, the event was described by spectators as apocalyptic, viewers witnessing the impressive video showing a large wall of sand which appeared on the edge of the city left spectators in awe.
Though common across West Africa from January to April for it is the areas' dry season, sandstorm which releases large plumes of reddish dust arose about hundreds of meters high in the footage that circulated in social media.
After witnessing the horrifying scenario they were caught in, some shared that their apocalypse bingo card is full after the sandstorm, while others who were on site also shared that what they have witnessed was so scary.
But despite the horrifying experiences shared in their social media which circulates in different platforms, some people conclude that it is God's punishment.
Also called as a sandstorm, a dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon that is most common in regions that are arid and semi-arid.
Drylands in the vicinity of North Africa and the Arabian peninsula are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust.
Just last year, a dust storm developed in the southern part of Africa was picked up by NASA satellites.
On September 25, 2019, people living in the coastal towns along the west coast of southern Africa observed the skies as it turned into red.
The dust storms' plumes were observed by the VIIRS or the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the shared satellite Suomi NPP satellite by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Moreover, the South African Weather Service also reported that the winds lofted enough particles into the air to produce moderate to poor visibility.
According to the news reports, aircraft were not able to land at nearby airports, as photographs from people in Alexander Bay show dark, hazy skies making the streets barely visible even using a camera.
The amount of dust lofted coming from the land in the Southern Hemisphere is negligible compared to that of the Northern Hemisphere produces.
But still, when winds blow over dry areas of the Southern Hemisphere, dust storms that will be produced can be fierce.
The Sahara Desert in Africa, for example, is one of the major dust sources in the world.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
As 2020 started, so did a number of tragedies and natural disasters that happened globally.
Africa was swarmed with locusts which caused hunger after the pests devoured their crops. Brazil was fazed with mudslides and floods. There were several volcanic activities and earthquakes all around the globe which caused fear and displaced many people.
Animals and forests in Australia were heavily affected after fires engulfed their lands. And the one which shook the world most was the coronavirus outbreak which caused a pandemic and has taken hundreds and thousands of lives globally.
These are only some of the disasters that the world had to face in 2020 but there is no telling where and when this series of unfortunate events will end.
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