What It Looks Like When a Massive Dust Storm Swallows Tehran

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A dust storm hits Tehran, Iran on Monday, June 2 2014.

By Brian Ries2014-06-02 16:45:49 UTC

A massive dust storm hit Iran's capital city of Tehran on Monday, turning the skies black as night.

The dust storm, commonly called a "haboob" across the Middle East, left three dead and 27 injured, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.

According to The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang, weather conditions changed rapidly as the storm hit Tehran.

It was 91 degrees and sunny at 5 p.m. local time, and 66 degrees with 35 mph one hour later.

Videos and photos shared on social media show a massive cloud of brown dirt swallowing the city, which has an estimated population of nearly 8 million people.

Negar Mortazavi, a journalist in Iran, tweeted a photo that showed the massive storm covering the sky.

Video shared on YouTube shows the city’s clear skies on one end, then the massive “haboob” on the other.

Instagram users shared photos of the storm using the hashtag #طوفان, which means “storm” in persian, that show fallen trees, a darkened sky and a massive brown cloud perched over the city.

The storm left a reported 50,000 residents without power.

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Topics: Climate, iran, US & World, World