"When a dust storm swept across the desert last month, the wall of churning dust and sand rolled across the Coachella Valley like a colossal wave of floodwater, enveloping everything in a haze that resembled thick smoke.

Farmer Albert Keck was walking out of a date orchard near Coachella when he saw the storm moving across the farmland. He stopped in amazement and took out his phone to photograph the looming cloud of dust.

'I've never seen anything like that in my life here,' said Keck, who has been growing dates in the valley his whole life. 'It was kind of surreal. And then I got caught inside of it, and it was pretty much zero visibility.'"

Ian James reports for the Palm Springs Desert Sun September 6, 2014. [2]