Sandstorm in Kuwait

[Feihung08]

These were taken by a friend of mine who rescently moved to Kuwait (yes, I know!) for work! They're just snapshots from a budget camera but sometimes the scene is so dramatic, you just have to over look the "quality"! But he did a good job to get high enough to really show the magnitude of this storm! Looks right out of the movies!

#1
http://DicksDwelling.smugmug.com/photos/21673734-M.jpg
#2
http://DicksDwelling.smugmug.com/photos/21673736-M.jpg
#3
http://DicksDwelling.smugmug.com/photos/21673738-M.jpg
#4, one last look just before it hits........
http://DicksDwelling.smugmug.com/photos/21673740-M.jpg

[Bitmap]

hellish place

[Feihung08]

hellish place
Yeah, we still can't figure out why he moved there. Except for the fact that they are paying him LOTS of money! Doing the same networking job that he was doing here he's making MORE than twice that there.

[dannym]

Amazing photo's. Thanks for sharing.

[BottomBracket]

Wow! So that's what a scirroco looks like. Like impending doom. I wouldn't do any lens changing in that sandstorm :)

[khiemluu]

Yeah, we still can't figure out why he moved there. Except for the fact that they are paying him LOTS of money! Doing the same networking job that he was doing here he's making MORE than twice that there.

Great captures!

Well i guess if your brave enough to work there then you deserve the hazard pay.

[Feihung08]

Great captures!

Well i guess if your brave enough to work there then you deserve the hazard pay.
You sir, are NOT kidding!!!

[SurfKahakai]

Well i guess if your brave enough to work there then you deserve the hazard pay.

Kuwait's not really a scary place at all. There's hardly any danger there. I spent 4 months there and saw a few of those dust storms. However, I'm pretty sure that's not Kuwait. That looks more like Iraq to me.

[coatsie]

Wow - looks like something out of the movies! Great shots.:)

[Feihung08]

Kuwait's not really a scary place at all. There's hardly any danger there. I spent 4 months there and saw a few of those dust storms. However, I'm pretty sure that's not Kuwait. That looks more like Iraq to me.
Actually it technically is Kuwait. My friend says he's right on the border. And from what I can tell the storm is actually coming out of Iraq and into Kuwait. Ironic isn't it.

[Feihung08]

Wow - looks like something out of the movies! Great shots.:)
Right out of the movie "The Mummy"!

[insomnia]

These pics are from Al Asad air base in iraq, I have more pictures too :p

[Feihung08]

These pics are from Al Asad air base in iraq, I have more pictures too :p
Hmmmm.....now I'm wondering if I got mislead?!?!
Here's my friends e-mail message........
<<<Yo...check this out. Kuwait Storm recently and one of
our co-workers took these pictures by the borders of
kuwait and iraq.>>>
I guess it is very possible that maybe someone along the line fudged the actual local of these pics! Hell, these could be taken right off some website for all I know! Thanks for the detective work! Unfortunately my buddy is one of those guys who NEVER replies, so I'm sure I won't ever be able to clear this up! Damn I hate those people!

[cactusclay]

Right out of the movie "The Mummy"!
That's exactly what I was thinking. Very cool shot, makes you want to stick your camera in a ziploc, I bet. :)

[insomnia]

Hmmmm.....now I'm wondering if I got mislead?!?!
Here's my friends e-mail message........
<<<Yo...check this out. Kuwait Storm recently and one of
our co-workers took these pictures by the borders of
kuwait and iraq.>>>
I guess it is very possible that maybe someone along the line fudged the actual local of these pics! Hell, these could be taken right off some website for all I know! Thanks for the detective work! Unfortunately my buddy is one of those guys who NEVER replies, so I'm sure I won't ever be able to clear this up! Damn I hate those people!


http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/f555eba88649e1d885256fef0061cbbd?OpenDocument

There's a link. Either way they are amazing photos! :shock:

[BobL]

Kuwait's not really a scary place at all. There's hardly any danger there. I spent 4 months there and saw a few of those dust storms. However, I'm pretty sure that's not Kuwait. That looks more like Iraq to me.

I agree, definitely not scary. I was in Kuwait City 2 weeks ago for a week and was pleasantly surprised because walking the streets I felt safer than places like Paris or Rome (my parents are Italian and I can understand it) or LA. And unlike some of those other palces the people were also polite and helpful.

Here's a pano I took down by the Marina in Kuwait City.

[ChP]

Those storms are incredible. I had no idea that people actually lived in areas with sandstorms of that magnitude, just incredible.

[sixshot]

Incredible shots whoever took them.

[dedalus-6]

where has he gone after the last photo? I wonder...into some underground bunker? or some house??It's scary man.....

[CyberDyneSystems]

That's just amazing.. :shock:

Awesome pics!

[Feihung08]

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/f555eba88649e1d885256fef0061cbbd?OpenDocument

There's a link. Either way they are amazing photos! :shock:
Oh, no kidding! That does look very similar, and looking at my friends pics I was thinking that it looked a lot like a 'base'. But he did say it was "near" the border of Iraq, so I kinda just assumed that any 'company' that was "near" the border or Iraq should be fortified like a base. I'm sure the local Kinko's even has a gun turret on it's roof!

[Feihung08]

I agree, definitely not scary. I was in Kuwait City 2 weeks ago for a week and was pleasantly surprised because walking the streets I felt safer .......
Well there is still the stigma in peoples minds that not that long ago a whole country came pouring in to take them over, and even a shorter time ago they were lobbing scud missiles over the border. That's a whole different kind of fear you talk about in Paris and LA.....a more personal fear.

[Feihung08]

where has he gone after the last photo? I wonder...into some underground bunker? or some house??It's scary man.....
That is pretty freaky huh? I'm thinking it obviously wasn't moving as fast as the one in The Mummy (and not morphing into a face either!) so there was time to snap a couple of quick ones and then jump behind closed doors. You would think it would seep into the ventilation somehow too though right?

[Keiffer]

Great shots! Man oh man That really does look like something out of the Mummy.

[SurfKahakai]

You would think it would seep into the ventilation somehow too though right?

It does but not at the rate you're thinking. I was one of the fortunate ones who got to live in trailers instead of tents and even my trailer needed to be dusted every day. The day I arrived I put a bag in the closet and I never opened it. Somehow, the bag had sand in it 4 months later.

[AFCop]

Man, I don't miss that stuff!:mad: I do wish I had gotten photos as good as those, although when we saw a storm coming, we usually just high-tailed it to the closest facility. Most people don't realize how fine that sand is. They think the arabian deserts are like beach sand, which would have been much nicer. This stuff is as fine as talcum powder and gets into everything!!! Anyway, I'll be retired in 13 days, so I won't have to see that place anymore!!!:D Nice shots of nasty weather, no matter who took them!:)

[Feihung08]

Man, I don't miss that stuff!:mad: I do wish I had gotten photos as good as those, although when we saw a storm coming, we usually just high-tailed it to the closest facility. Most people don't realize how fine that sand is. They think the arabian deserts are like beach sand, which would have been much nicer. This stuff is as fine as talcum powder and gets into everything!!! Anyway, I'll be retired in 13 days, so I won't have to see that place anymore!!!:D Nice shots of nasty weather, no matter who took them!:)
Your totally right! I would have expected it to be a bit on the gritty side. That's very interesting. I guess after millions of years of blowing in storms like this it probably would erode down into powder huh?!! And I can only imagine where that stuff gets into!

And a very happy CONGRATULATIONS to your retirement!!! Good luck in the next phase of your life!! And no matter what that may bring.....make sure you get lots of pictures of it! ;)

[BobL]

Those storms are incredible. I had no idea that people actually lived in areas with sandstorms of that magnitude, just incredible.

In 1983 the same thing happened in Melbourne. Check it out at, http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/storm7.htm

[Feihung08]

In 1983 the same thing happened in Melbourne. Check it out at, http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/storm7.htm
Too bad there's not more pictures of that one! Unless I missed them? I didn't know anything about that happening in Aus before. Crazy!

[Michaelmjc]

Wow that is crazy! I sure wouldn't want to live there.

[cmM]

wooow!!!
Man, I'd be running for dear life :-P :D lol

[AF-NCO]

Man, I don't miss that stuff!:mad: I do wish I had gotten photos as good as those, although when we saw a storm coming, we usually just high-tailed it to the closest facility. Most people don't realize how fine that sand is. They think the arabian deserts are like beach sand, which would have been much nicer. This stuff is as fine as talcum powder and gets into everything!!! Anyway, I'll be retired in 13 days, so I won't have to see that place anymore!!!:D Nice shots of nasty weather, no matter who took them!:)

You ain't kidding, I high-tailed it indoors ASAP whenever I saw it coming my way. I remember always watching my footsteps in the sand over there. It always made me think I was walking on the moon instead of in the sand. It was cool watching the dust sort of billow up slowly around your boot.

Congrats also on the Retirement! I can't wait for my turn to punch out!