Samum is a squally wind that distills huge quantities of fine sand and dust. Its temperature is very high, sometimes reaching 50 degrees at zero, a maximum of 10 percent humidity. The term "sumum" is translated as poisonous.
Disastrous wind
Nowadays, almost all deserts, and those where Samum is rampant, and this is North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, are crossed by automobile roads. Airplanes often fly in the sky, there is satellite communications and the Ministry of Emergencies.
Therefore, despite the more than impressive sight caused by this flurry, experts say that rumors about the mortal danger of the samum are exaggerated. However, in 1805, a caravan of 1, 800 camels and 2, 000 people skidded sand and killed the sumum itself. This is confirmed by the testimony of many authors. And Herodotus, who called Samum a red wind, talks about the death of the army of King Babylon, the conqueror of Egypt, the son of Cyrus the Great - Cambyses from the Achaemenid dynasty. This happened in 522 BC. At the head of his army, Cambyses left Damascus, but never returned home. It is not surprising that the sea of blood is a synonym for samum. Although under the blood in this phrase its authors mean, rather, the color of a sandstorm.
Flurry Features
Sand rising hundreds of meters high is most often a red hue. However, yellow, white, and even blue samums were recorded. The only advantage, besides an impressive spectacle, is that the wind rushes without touching the ground. That is, there is a small gap between the firmament and the dust storm, which carries the smallest dust and sand, penetrating the eyes, ears and respiratory tract, falling into which a person covered with clothing is guaranteed to survive. Unless, of course, suffocates during a heat of 50 degrees with virtually no access to air. Aircraft barrage of the sky may not be visible through the darkness of an unwary traveler.
The specifics of the phenomenon
Samum - this is very dangerous, because the duration of the flurry reaches, as a rule, 2-3 hours, and the storm itself can last several days. Therefore, when setting off on a journey through the desert, it is advisable to know the long-term weather forecast and be well acquainted with the rules of conduct in case of getting into the sumum zone. The time of these winds is spring-summer, most often July, the direction is south, south-west, the front sometimes reaches several kilometers. It arises, as a rule, due to strong heating of the soil, as a result of which warm air rises rapidly, and its place is occupied by cold, that is, a local cyclone arises, which contributes to the nucleation of samum. It is also called “singing, ” because an hour before the storm a strong noise is heard resulting from grains of sand rubbing against each other. First, a small black dot appears in the distance above the clear horizon, and after a while a dusty sand barrage appears, in which the sky turns black. Even photographs of the summit approaching the city cause fear.
Samum is very fast
It should be noted that as a result of climatic changes these days, phenomena such as the summit have become more frequent several times. So, if, for example, in Mauritania before, two summits happened during the year, from the strength of three, there are 80 of them now. The word "sumum" itself, as mentioned above, is translated as poisonous, poisonous, that is, destructive. It is a fair characteristic for dry and hot, surrounded by a dark halo of a desert storm. And it sounds beautiful and mysterious!
There is Vedeneev’s book “Samum is a desert wind”, there is a series “Operation Samum”. One of the heroes of Alchemist P. Coelho transforms from a shepherd named Santiago into Samum wind. The wild speed of this desert storm pushed the organizers of the service for training and speed reading training to call it “Samum”. That is, this is the best name for defining something fast and swift.
Unparalleled
The wild, unbridled power of this wind is pushing people to call him something powerful and fast. An example of this is the Samum missile ship. The first hovercraft, or RKVP, project 1239 was the Bora catamaran, which by the time Samum arrived at the Novorossiysk base was already there. These ships have no equal strike potential, as they have high speed, maneuverability and a fairly large deck to accommodate an impressive amount of weapons. For example, RZK "Osa-MA".
Swift and unique
The Samum missile ship was built at the Krasny Metallist factory in Zelenodolsk in 1992. Now it belongs to the 166th division of the 41st separate brigade of missile boats of the Black Sea Fleet. This hovercraft catamaran is unique. The main features include 36 possibilities of using propulsion and propulsion system, which is guaranteed to provide the ship in any situation. A catamaran can reach speeds of up to 50 knots per hour. Samum is a boat that has no analogues in the whole world, except for Bora and Sivucha, made according to the same project - 1239. The speed of these catamarans is twice the speed of any surface ship. The missiles placed on board are fully operational within 30 seconds. All these and other unique qualities give the right to seamen to call these boats sea destroyers. The ship rises to the target, destroys it and disappears from the zone of reciprocal defeat. Recently, the Samum missile boat returned to the base from the Mediterranean Sea, where it was on combat duty for the first time.
