Simoom

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A Simoom is a strong, dry, dust-laden desert wind that blows in the Sahara, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and the desert of Arabia. It is also known as a samiel, a simoun, or a simoon. Its temperature may exceed 54°C and the humidity may fall below 10%. The storm moves in cyclone (circular) form, carrying clouds of dust and sand, and produces on men and animals a suffocating effect. The name means “poison wind” and is given because the sudden onset of a 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. Simoom develops quickly and randomly. It is for this reason, Arabs wear turbans and robes and stay in their tents during the day. The Simoom is a deadly wind which stifles travellers and all sorts of animals, unless they fall prostrate on the ground. This wind rises between the 15th of June and the 15th of August. It whistles with great violence there, appears red and inflamed and kills every living thing that it strikes. But the death which it causes is not its most horrifying effect. The bodies of those who die by it are dissolved, without losing, however, their shape of color, so that it would seem as though they were asleep. If one touches these bodies, the part which is touched remains in the hand.

Herodotus writes of the Simoon, a red wind which blows across the Sahara. Sand from this wind has been known to blow as far north as the southen coast of England. The wind can appear so thick that mariners have referred to it as the "Sea of Blood."