In the latter half of the morning on December 2nd, strong, dry southwesterly winds began picking up dirt and dust in Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas. This led to areas of reduced visibility due to the blowing dust across Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas, and extreme Southwest Nebraska. A strong cold front entered the East Central Colorado around 11 AM and quickly moved southeast. Before this cold front entered into the Tri-State area, it was already collecting dust along its leading edge, forming a wall of dust resembling a haboob. As this cold front swept through the area, it gathered more dust and grew in severity and longevity. Many photos and videos showing a wall of dust a few hundred feet high were sent to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Goodland, Kansas. When the wall of dust moved over an area, visibility would drop to near or less than 0.25 mile with wind gusts near 70 mile per hour. Strong northwesterly winds and 0.25-mile visibility behind the initial wall of dust would continue for an hour or longer before subsiding.

High Wind in YUMA COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 11:51:00 to 02-DEC-22 12:45:00 (MST-7)
Magnitude: 59.00 MG
Reported by: Mesonet

Measured gust 1 mile west of Joes, Colorado of 59 knots. There were numerous other reports of winds above 50 kts in Yuma county during this event, but the 59 knot gust was the highest.

High Wind in YUMA COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 15:33:00 to 02-DEC-22 15:33:00 (MST-7)
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Reported by: Mesonet

Measured gust in Yuma, Colorado.

High Wind in CHEYENNE COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 13:18:00 to 02-DEC-22 13:23:00 (MST-7)
Magnitude: 56.00 MG
Reported by: Mesonet

Measured gust 2 miles east of Arapahoe, Colorado.

High Wind in KIT CARSON COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 11:43:00 to 02-DEC-22 13:07:00 (MST-7)
Magnitude: 57.00 MG
Reported by: Mesonet

Measured gust 17 miles north of Flagler, Colorado of 57 knots. Other reports of gusts over 50 knots were sent in during this event.

Dust Storm in YUMA COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 11:25:00 to 02-DEC-22 13:15:00 (MST-7)
Reported by: Public

Multiple reports of a wall of dust moving through the county that reduced visibility to 0.25 mile or less. Satellite imagery shows that the wall of dust moved over majority, if not all of Yuma county.

Dust Storm in YUMA COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 14:50:00 to 02-DEC-22 16:10:00 (MST-7)
Reported by: Department of Highways

Multiple reports of a second round of blowing dust reducing visibility to near zero, including traffic cameras showing the brown-out conditions.

Dust Storm in KIT CARSON COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 12:10:00 to 02-DEC-22 14:05:00 (MST-7)
Reported by: Public

The public reported blowing dust reducing visibility down to about one town block, less than 0.25 mile in Stratton, CO.

Dust Storm in CHEYENNE COUNTY, COLORADO
From 02-DEC-22 13:00:00 to 02-DEC-22 14:00:00 (MST-7)
Reported by: Unknown

Satellite and radar showed the southwestern portion of a wall of dust moving through the northeast quarter of Cheyenne county. Although no reports of 0.25 mile visibility due to dust were recorded in Cheyenne, surrounding counties had multiple such reports. It is believed that impactful reductions to visibility occurred due to blowing dust in this timeframe.