Dust Storm - Did anyone else get caught in that?

My wife and I were at the movies on Thursday night at Harkins in Chandler, and they stopped The Matrix 10 minutes in and the fire alarm went off with the automated voice recording instructing us to immediately, but calmly, exit the building.

Once we went out the exit, our first thought was that the fire was very big and very close. After getting a good taste of dust in the mouth, I realized we were caught in a traditional Phoenix dust-storm.

What was everyone else doing at the time?

Hi!

I was at home at the time...trying to keep my dog from freaking out...and my pool rafts and toys from flying away! Had a good layer of dirt in my pool afterwards, no bigee though.

My husband and I will be moving there the first part of 2005. How often do these dust storms happen?

This one was particularly hefty, so these aren't that common.. maybe once every few years.

However, we get dust storms all the time during the monsoon, which is usually the last half of the summer. People who have lived here for quite a while don't think much of them. But for people that are seeing it for the first time, it's either an amazing sight or a scary sight, depending on your view of storms :-).