MT staff and wire reports

Maybe we can blame China for the haze that's hung over the Rogue Valley for the past few days. A huge dust storm in China is the latest explanation for the milky haze that has covered Rogue Valley skies most of this week.

A powerful storm that started April 18 and lasted three days in the Chinese province of Xinjiang whipped up a plume of dust that drifted east on prevailing winds. The storm was so strong it snapped trees.

"It looked like the Dust Bowl of the '30s," said Daran Rife, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Weather satellites tracked the Asian dust cloud across the Northern Hemisphere. On Wednesday, the cloud was over Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada and parts of southwestern Canada.

Oregon state climatologist George Taylor said he was not completely convinced the Chinese dust could account for the haze across the Northwest. But he noted past disturbances such as the eruption of a Philippine volcano filled the atmosphere with fine particles.

Taylor said the haze could lift soon. A weather system is approaching Oregon with winds that will scour out the stagnant air.

Information about the storm is available on the Internet at:http://capita.wustl.edu/Asia-FarEast/

Taylor said there are still plenty of atmospheric phenomena that are difficult to fully explain.