Posted by tourdemars to Mars Global Surveyor at July 10, 2001 12:00 PM

Whipped by 100 mph winds, a monster dust storm is fast covering the face of Mars and could soon smother the entire planet in fine red sandy particles, scientists reported yesterday. First spotted barely a month ago in images from the Mars Global Surveyor, the storm has already covered more than 40 million square miles and is growing day by day, according to Philip Christensen, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University in Tempe.