Simoom

Simoom (Arabic: سموم samūm; from the root س م م s-m-m, سم "to poison") is a strong, hot, dry, dust-laden wind. The word is generally used to describe a local wind that blows in the Sahara, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and the deserts of Arabian Peninsula. Its temperature may exceed 54 °C (129 °F) and the relative humidity may fall below 10%.

Alternative spellings include samoon, samun, simoun, and simoon. Another name used for this wind is samiel (Turkish samyeli from Arabic sāmm سامّ meaning poisonous and Turkish yel meaning wind). An alternative type occurring in the region of Central Asia is known as "Garmsil" (гармсель).

The name means "poison wind" and is given because the sudden onset of simoom may also cause heat stroke. This is attributed to the fact that the hot wind brings more heat to the body than can be disposed of by the evaporation of perspiration.

The Nuttall Encyclopædia described the simoom:

The storm moves in cyclone (circular) form, carrying clouds of dust and sand, and produces on humans and animals a suffocating effect.

A 19th-century account of simoom in Egypt reads:

Egypt is also subject, particularly during the spring and summer, to the hot wind called the "samoom," which is still more oppressive than the khamasin winds, but of much shorter duration, seldom lasting longer than a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. It generally proceeds from the south-east or south-south-east, and carries with it clouds of dust and sand.

It has been alleged that a "simoom" occurred on June 17, 1859, in Goleta and Santa Barbara, California. Local historian Walker Tompkins wrote that during the morning, the temperature hovered around the normal 24 to 27 °C (75 to 81 °F), but around 1pm, strong super hot winds filled with dust began to blow from the direction of the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north. By 2 pm, the temperature supposedly reached 56 °C (133 °F). This temperature was said to have been recorded by an official U.S. coastal survey vessel that was operating in the waters just offshore, in the Santa Barbara Channel. At 5 pm, the temperature had reportedly dropped to 50 °C (122 °F), and by 7 pm, the temperature was back to a normal 25 °C (77 °F). Tompkins provided a supposed quote from a U.S. government report saying, "Calves, rabbits and cattle died on their feet. Fruit fell from trees to the ground scorched on the windward side; all vegetable gardens were ruined. A fisherman in a rowboat made it to the Goleta Sandspit with his face and arms blistered as if he had been exposed to a blast furnace." Also according to Tompkins, local inhabitants were saved from the heat by seeking shelter in the thick adobe walled houses that were the standard construction at the time.