Satellite watches wall of dust roll through Texas | Space photo of the day for March 17, 2026

Incredible satellite imagery shows a wall of dust being blown through Texas as a cold front pushed its way across the United States on Monday (March 16).

What is it?

The footage was captured by the GOES-19 weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It shows a line of dust being driven southward, far below clouds much higher in the atmosphere blowing from west to east.

The wall of dust was blown across West Texas by a cold front that brought extreme winter weather to much of the United States from March 14 to 16. The storm, known as Winter Storm Iona, brought record snowfall totals to the Midwest and damaging winds and tornadoes throughout the southern U.S.

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The dust storm created travel complications and other issues for Texans. At least one multi-vehicle pileup was reported due to the blinding dust sweeping across the state.

Why is it amazing?

It’s rare to see such a pronounced line of dust visible from space. Colorado State University’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) described the imagery as “spectacular” in a post on X.

Views of Earth like this one are are only made possible by NOAA’s fleet of next-generation satellites. GOES 19 launched in June 2024 carrying what NOAA describes as “the most sophisticated technology ever flown in space to help forecast weather on Earth.” The satellite has even captured images of solar eclipses, thanks to special sun-watching instruments aboard the spacecraft.