Since the Dust Bowl, El Paso has not experienced as many dust storms.

EL PASO, Texas—On a Tuesday afternoon in May, earth gadget scientist Thomas Gill became monitoring but greater dirt rolling thru this border city.

Gill, a member of the school at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), became ready to peer whether or not this dusty day could swirl right into a full-blown dirt storm, wherein visibility is much less than a half-mile. El Paso has skilled 10 dust storms this year, trailing handiest the Dust Bowl years of 1935 and 1936. The common is 1 storm per year, in keeping with Gill.

There had been dirt on 3 days this year within the border city, the best general given that 1970-71. Gill has been fielding calls from newshounds across the us of A, as dirt blows from West Texas as some distance as Des Moines.

The aggregate of a windier-than-common spring and severe drought within the U.S. Southwest and Northern Mexico has created noticeably dusty conditions. High winds carry loose, dry soil and sand, developing dirt clouds that journey long distances. Much of the dirt blowing into El Paso comes from Southern New Mexico and Chihuahua, which includes dried lakes called playas. With little rain in the forecast, the dirt situations display no sign of stopping.

During the storms, airborne particle concentrations have increased to dangerous levels, affecting the health of the local population. Particulate matter pollution exposure is associated with worsened asthma, reduced lung function, and cardiac attacks in heart disease patients. Dust results in more hospitalisations, restricted roads, postponed sporting events, and fatal auto accidents.

People in the Borderland area, which includes Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso, are used to dust storms. However, Gill claimed that this year is unique.

"In the Borderland, we've considered the dust to be an annoyance to people's lifestyle, but it won't have an impact on their activities," he stated. "I believe it has gotten so bad this year that people are starting to realise there are repercussions."

The drought was established by drives

Dust Towers around the world, from China to the Middle East and North Africa. In the US, they are most common in the large levels and southwestern deserts. The Dürre is an important driver this year. The entire Chihuahua state, adjacent to Texas, is located in Dule and in Southern Mexico and West Texas.

Gill said typical dust sources, such as the Roseburg Playa in southern New Mexico, are active this year. However, he said "the giant death of local vegetation" would help blow away from new sources. Cows are hungry for water and food, so they die at the Chihuahua ranch.

"In its natural state, the Chihuahua desert contains many grasslands," he said. "This grass shows many naked soils and countries to die."

Texas climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said the current drought in Texas, which began in late 2021 and early 2022, has lasted longer than the short, intensive droughts of the past few decades. The drought caused $10.9 billion in damages between 2022 and 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"This looks like the beginning of a drought in the 1950s, where there were many dry conditions based on themselves," says Niel Seganmon, professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University.

"We're experiencing a 21st-century North American dust bowl," said Mike Gaglio, owner of El Paso's high desert native Pflants.

Desert Rain Assistant and Landscape Designer, Gaglio has front row seats to pass through the area twice a week between El Paso and Roseburg Playa. Since 2016 he has been working on a project with the New Mexico Department of Transport (NMDOT) to mitigate dust through ecological recovery of Playa.

The Interstates are particularly dangerous places when a dust tower hits. If the interstate is over Roseburg Playa, 21 people will die in the dust event when the accident occurs, and the highway has been closed 39 times since 2012, according to NMDOT.

New Mexico and the Bureau of Land Management, a country managed by vegetation. This will blow away plenty of dust and sand. "Cows grazing in the arid West are a major ecological disaster," Gaglio said.

He and other partners developed a cultivation process and generated intruders on the ground to prevent drainage before local drought-bearing plants such as blue and black glamorous grass were collected. In the first repair area, dust bubbles were reduced normally. Currently, cattle pastures are limited to 3,000 acres, half of which have been restored.

Gaglio said grazing, monotonous agriculture, and urban development would "destroy" desert soils and cause more dust. To restore desert ecosystems and mitigate dust, communities and land managers must change the movement of water through the landscape, he said. "We have to take care of the raindrops because it's not raining.