Khamaseen

Khamaseen (pronounced “come and see’em” hint, hint, hint) refers to the dry, hot and dusty sandstorms blowing in North African.


In Egypt, khamaseen usually arrives in April but occasionally occur in March and May, carrying great quantities of sand and dust from the deserts, with a speed up to 90 miles per hour, and a rise of temperatures as much as 20° in two hours. Derived from the word for 50, Khamaseen is believed to blow "at intervals for about 50 days" although it rarely occurs more than once a week and last for just a few hours at a time.

The reality is the sky turns yellow with sand, you can feel it like humidity hanging in the air, on your skin and in the air you breathe. The wind whips like in a hurricane. It’s a terrible day for allergy or asthma sufferers.


Sand coats everything. The maids at the schools scurry around furiously to try and sweep up the sand as quickly and as often as possible. It’s like shoveling in the middle of a snow storm. Because sand is as slippery as ice on these hard marble floors; and children in any country just seem to need to run in the hallways.

Sand creeps into every crevice and cranny. I know I’ll have little piles of sand at my doors and windows when I get home from work. No window fitting or door jam is plum or sealed in all of the land. The heavy curtains keep the sand from blowing all over the rooms.

And just from walking from the car to the building it feels like an expensive exfoliation treatment. It hurts. Honestly and frankly, it hurts. It feels like you’re stuck in a freezing rain storm – it stings your skin. You end up with sand in your mouth and eyes and ears and hair. Everywhere.

Thankfully, it does not last long. Like a tropical rainstorm it is fierce but the sun and blue skies return quickly.