Enormous sandstorm in India blocks out the sun

There’s a lot of chaos going on in the world right now, and Jaisalmer, India’s historic city, has not been spared.

On August 5, the region became engulfed in a massive sandstorm when temperatures topped 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The wall of dust turned the sky orange and temporarily blocked the sun. The enormous sand cloud spanned roughly 186 miles and hit villages including Poonam Nagar, Nehadai and Mohangarh. Locals captured footage that flooded social media timelines.

Video from Newsflare shows the massive sandstorm slowly approaching a man who is recording from a rooftop. As it moves closer, the sky and everything under becomes consumed by it on an otherwise sunny day.

Although the weather phenomenon is strange, the man and his friends don’t seem too scared as they pose for photos. Eventually, the dust cloud reaches them and everything is covered in a thick, brown fog. The video concludes when there’s hardly any visibility as the wall of dust passes over them.

People on Twitter were enthralled by images of the unusual event.

“Daunting and yet magical… Awesome,” one person tweeted.

“Looks like the sand storms we get in Arizona sometimes,” one user noted.

“Stunning video,” another wrote.

Sandstorms occur when gusting winds are able to lift the top layer of sand from the ground and push it in different directions. These winds usually have speeds of at least 25 miles per hour, because of this sandstorms are usually pretty short. They can occur in hot, dry desert regions just about anywhere in the world including the U.S., West Africa and the Middle East.

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