Tuesday afternoon and evening, May 22, 2002, the combination of high winds and severe drought conditions created the first dust storm of the year in this part of the Canadian praries. The Saskatoon Star Pheonix featured a picture of the downtown core being enveloped by a large dust cloud. The caption on the photograph reads 'A cyclist looks eastward on 20th street to see Saskatoon's downtown disappear in dust that enfulfed the city late Tuesday afternoon.' This morning the winds have died down a little, but the city is still wrapped in a haze and a film of dust coats automobiles. An elderly gentelman said, 'I lived through the dirty thirties once and I shouldn't have to do it again.' The Saskatoon dust storm follows on the heels of a cloud of smoke which enveloped the city of Edmonton. According to the story as reported by the CBC, 200 Forest and grass fires are burning in the `Canadian west, due to a combination of drought and high winds...Tuesday May 21 -> CBC : Smoke cloud covers Edmonton, a city on the Canadian praries in the province of Alberta to the West of Saskatchewan...The fields in Saskatchewan are dried and yellow brown and the other weekend I watched as men walked accross bone dry soil with clouds of dust being raised by each foot fall, and I knew at the time that great dust storms were inevitable.

The drought conditions have also spread in the western parts of the American plains. See the page Drought Report and as well as the page with a couple of snap shots of one of these dust storms. A long list of links to drought resources is on the Drought Watch page ... ... and from last year, on the prophecy page, Mountain drought and Summer is over, harvest is past, and we are not saved



High Wind Warnings for Wednesday May 22, 2002


The Severe Weather map on the Wunderground site shows in blue, the high wind warnings for the drought stricken areas, raising the possibility of more dust storms in the United States, as well. The Green on the right shows the areas that were flooded all winter with the flooding following the Mississippi. The West Nile virus has reached this flooded area and in an ominous example of synchronicity the area was flooded all winter and spring, raising the possibility of the threat of West Nile Virus outbreaks as mosquitoe breeding season begins. Between drought, flooding, and the West Nile Virus, it looks bad year for farmers and for the MidWest of both Canada and the United States...