Shamals and Sunspots

I've learned a new word since we've been here - shamal.  It's pronounced /sha-mall/ and here is its definition:

"A shamal is a northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night."  (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

Despite all that precision, it's used around here to just mean "sandstorm."  We've had a lot of shamals since we got here - probably at least half a dozen good, strong ones -  and they are exciting because they mean a change in the weather.  You know, something different from a dry-and-hot day.  A shamal will change things up to something new, like a dry-and-hot-and-dusty day.  Yay for change!

Shamals are not like you imagine.  I always imagined sandstorms being fierce and thick, something like this, only more dense with sand:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_eR0PmDXfs   I imagined people leaning into the wind, covering their faces with cloths that are wrapped around their heads, struggling to see and struggling to breathe.  Here, however, shamals are more like a yellow fog that slowly builds up and when it is gone, you have dust on everything.  They do come with some wind, but the worst one so far boasted only 20 mph sustained winds.  Here are some pictures from various shamals that we've experienced:

See how it's kind of hazy?  This is a big shamal.  People here say that it's looking "shamal-y" if it seems to be getting hazy.

Hazy toward the end of the street. 

Hazy into the desert

All that haze is really dust and sand, and it ends up on all of your outdoor furniture the next day! 

Sometimes, it does rain a little here.  We've had 2 or 3 thunderstorms, actually.  But the rain is not clean water - it is dirty, dusty, sandy water.  Once at a playdate, I watched raindrops fall onto a white tablecloth - they were dark brown raindrops!  They leave behind the same coating of dust. 

Mike says that we should adopt Arabic personalities, kind of like superheroes have their personality dichotomies.  He wants his Arabic name to be Ali Shamaly. 

He also wants to open a shopping mall called ShaMall.  Har Har. 

But the coolest thing about the shamals is that they throw so much dust up into the air that - get this, I think this is amazing - YOU CAN REALLY LOOK AT THE SUN WITH YOUR NAKED EYES!!  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!!  This is blasphemy - heresy - anathema! - to an astronomer.  How many times did I preach, cajole, insist, or threaten my students to NEVER EVER EVER look at the Sun with their naked eyes?  Too many to count!  I showed them pictures of blind people attempting to walk, talked about how Galileo lost his eyesight at the end of his life, and reminded them that Newton actually went blind for two weeks after he stared at the Sun!  (On purpose.  Oh, Newton.  What a dumb thing to do!  Yes, Newton was brilliant.  But not in this instance.) 

The Sun at 3pm.  WOW!!  Check out that limb darkening!  (That's how the Sun is brighter in the middle than on the edges.)

So I've been looking at the Sun with my naked eyes.  We all have.  It's incredible!  We are really seeing a STAR, UP CLOSE!  You can stare at it, study it, watch it move, all during the light of day, with no special equipment.  So then I did something REALLY REALLY BAD.  Something that I am almost embarrassed about.   I know.  How could I have done it?  But I had to try.  Yes.  I did it. 

I got out my binoculars. 

Binoculars!!  I looked directly at the Sun, during the day, with BINOCULARS!  And I saw a SUNSPOT!!  WITH MY NAKED EYE!  DURING THE DAYTIME!  WOW!!!!  I LOVE SHAMALS!! 

Astronomers have a thing they say at the end of their emails to each other.  Rather than saying "sincerely", they say "clear skies".  As in

"blah blah blah email text, ok, let's talk soon. 
Clear skies,
Elisabeth." 

It means "I hope you have clear skies for your next stargazing time," (as opposed to cloudy skies) rather like a "take care and good luck" kind of message.  But now that I know about shamals, I'm going to start a new trend:  "dusty skies"  - as in "hope you have a shamal soon so you can see the Sun!"  

If I'm this excited about a sunspot, I think I picked the right profession.  :)