Synoptic analysis of dust storms in the Lorestan Province, Iran

Dust storms are the most damaging hazards in the arid and semi arid regions of the world. The Lorestan Province of Iran due to its adjacency to the vast deserts is affected frequently with dust storms. This study aimed to analysis the effective conditions on the important climatic factors of these storms, so that the planners could anticipate and manage these most dangerous hazards. For this purpose the daily dust data for the six synoptic stations of the province were extracted from the data bank of the Meteorological Organization of Iran during the study period. Two of the 30 intensive storms of these data with very short horizontal view, were identified and analyzed in terms of pressure, instability, temperature, moisture, and wind at the different levels of atmosphere; their satellite images were also considered. The results showed that the 500 hpa level trough and the sea level low pressure over the Persian Gulf are the most important synoptic factors for these storms. The northwestern winds blowing from east of Turkey and north of Iraq bring the dust from the deserts on their way. The main source areas of dust for the Lorestan province are the deserts of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and to some extend the Sahara desert.