PHOENIX - A dust storm covered the Phoenix area Sunday evening.
The National Weather Service expired the dust storm warning for the greater Phoenix area at 7 p.m.
So how did this dust storm compared with others?
“Bigger than small -- I'll give it a seven out of 10,” said Andrew Deemer a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Deemer said dry conditions and strong winds helped the storm stay together longer than usual.
“This one was able to pick up enough soil and kind of last its way through a good portion of the metro area,” Deemer said.
The dust storm rolled over central Phoenix and east Valley cities of Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert and Apache Junction and nearby sections of Interstate 10.
“It looked like a big rain storm at first,” said Jerry Long, who was driving on the I-10 heading toward Tucson when he had to pull over.
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“Rather than a rain storm, the gray, it was brown so I said, ‘Yeah that's dirt. It's dust, let’s get off,” Long said.
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Operations at Sky Harbor paused from 6:08 p.m. to 6:23 p.m. due to the storm, but as of 7:20 p.m. has returned to normal.
The dust storm moved north along I-10 from the Casa Grande area, where a dust storm warning was also issued for northern Pinal County until that one expired at 6 p.m.
12 News meteorologist Matt Pace said the dust storm slowed down when it hit the Valley. The air was expected to clear within a couple of hours of the start of the storm.