When a Dust Storm Is Not a Dust Storm: Reliability of Dust Records From the Storm Events Database and Implications for Geohealth Applications

Abstract

Windblown dust impacts human health, air quality, and climate. The National Weather Service Storm Events Database (SED) is a widely used dataset of significant or unusual weather, including dust storms (DS), and resulting deaths, injuries, and material losses in the USA. The SED is frequently used by medical, social, and atmospheric scientists. However, it is uncertain whether this dataset reliably represents spatial and temporal variations and trends of DS. Analyzing the SED from 2000 to 2020 identified 1,167 DS reports; removing reports of the same event from multiple locations left 647 DS in 21 USA states. The number of DS ranged from 12 in 2008 to 53 in 2018, with no strong interannual trends detected ( R 2 was 0.3). By examining the DS events reported in the SED based on meteorological observations including wind speed, visibility, and weather codes, we determined that the SED was not only missing many DS (visibility <1 km), but also included many blowing dust (BLDU) events. 49.9% of 491 reported DS events in SED had visibility >1 km and were incorrectly reported as DS. Underrepresentation of DS and inclusion of BLDU may be partially due to the diverse sources contributing to the SED and a lack of verification of the reports and their consistency. Although the SED is an extremely useful and valuable database of impactful weather, including DS, the issues found in this study warrant caution in use of this dataset for many geohealth applications.

Evaluating Data Product Exposure Metrics for Use in Epidemiologic Studies of Dust Storms

“…The results from this study agree with previous work highlighting limitations in the NWS storm event database, such as misclassification of dust storms, the reliance on multiple sources of input without verification, and the potential inconsistencies in the reports (Ardon‐Dryer et al., 2023 ). The storm event database, however, remains an important tool for identifying weather‐related events, including dust storms, though caution should be used when applying the data set to answer epidemiologic questions pertaining to airborne dust exposure and health.…”

“…The Storm Event database has advantages for use in health studies, including ostensibly complete spatial and temporal coverage going back to the 1990s. However, it has limitations with respect to accuracy, spatial resolution (limited to the Weather Forecast Zone (WFZ), roughly county‐sized areal units), and consistency with regard to reporting, which have prompted questions about its utility (Ardon‐Dryer et al., 2023 ; Tong et al., 2022 ).…”

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

“…The nationwide study in the U.S. by Crooks et al (2016) did not provide the relative risk to PM 10 concentration-the Storm Data used to identify dust storms do not include such information. Too, the Storm Data set is incomplete due to inconsistent reporting mechanisms (Ardon-Dryer et al, 2023;Tong et al, 2022). Potential links between dust storms and health consequences are complicated by health surveillance shortcomings and many unreported small-scale sources of airborne dust genesis, for example, agricultural tilling, microscale "dust channels," and dust devils that throw dry soils upward to 100 m and more (Sprigg, 2016;Sprigg et al, 2014Sprigg et al, , 2022Vukovic et al, 2014).…”

Dust Under the Radar: Rethinking How to Evaluate the Impacts of Dust Events on Air Quality in the United States

“…Yet, it is still unclear what the health consequences are of such intense but relatively short exposure to dust particles (e.g., acute exposure). This raises questions about whether we might need different air quality standards that account for such short‐duration dust emissions (Bouet et al., 2019), especially as many of the dust events in the United States last for an hour or less (Ardon‐Dryer et al., 2023).…”

“…Fine dust, based on elemental composition, has also been used to characterize dust impacts (e.g., Chow et al., 2015; Hand et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2022; Malm et al., 1994). The definition of the severity of the dust impact is another challenge, as “blowing dust event” and “dust storm” are often used interchangeably or broadly, which can cause confusion or limit the interpretation of the impacts of dust events, especially with respect to health applications (Ardon‐Dryer et al., 2023). Another challenge is that dust is often dismissed in policy and management decisions (Clifford, 2022).…”