Wave of Dust Rolls Through Texas

The Ides of March brought perilous weather to West Texas and the state's Panhandle. A strong cold front blasted south across the arid plains on March 15, 2026, bringing stiff winds that stirred up a curtain of dust. The cloud of suspended particles slashed visibility and made for treacherous travel as it swept across the region.

The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of blowing dust on its march across Texas at about 4:45 p.m. Central Time (21:45 Universal Time) on March 15. An image acquired by the Terra satellite about 5 hours earlier shows the wall of dust when it was approximately 150 miles (240 kilometers) to the northeast.

Footage captured by a storm chaser shows visibility plummeting to nearly zero as the dense plume passed; similar conditions contributed to a multivehicle crash in North Texas. The National Weather Service also issued a Red Flag Warning for March 15 due to the combination of high winds, low relative humidity, and dry fuels. Several wildland fires ignited in the Panhandle, prompting evacuations, according to news reports.