I didn't think this had gone that far north. About the same time this happened, I called back home (El Paso) and was told that the hail had punched holes in the roof of my great-grandmother's house in Mexico! Same storm, I bet. They also had substantial damage to their cars.
What you said about the sand - I can attest to that. back in february of '02, I drove down from Ft Carson, Colorado to El Paso in our 3 month old Protege ES, and on that stretch between Alamogordo and El Paso, I got hit by a sandstorm. When I arrived, I washed and waxed it. As I was buffing, I noticed some imperfections in the paint on the entire passenger's side. Closer viewing revealed that the whole side had been sand-blasted to the point where the paint had started to chip all over. It was really small and couldn't be seen from more than a foot or 2 away, though. It didn't bother me for too long, though, cause 6 months later I totalled it in a head-on.
What you said about the sand - I can attest to that. back in february of '02, I drove down from Ft Carson, Colorado to El Paso in our 3 month old Protege ES, and on that stretch between Alamogordo and El Paso, I got hit by a sandstorm. When I arrived, I washed and waxed it. As I was buffing, I noticed some imperfections in the paint on the entire passenger's side. Closer viewing revealed that the whole side had been sand-blasted to the point where the paint had started to chip all over. It was really small and couldn't be seen from more than a foot or 2 away, though. It didn't bother me for too long, though, cause 6 months later I totalled it in a head-on.
