Badge Quest
Do not seek out these events. They will find you. Badge Quest is a game, not an official alert source. Always follow official instructions from your local authorities and the alert itself. Not affiliated with FEMA, the National Weather Service or the FCC.

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HABOOB badge: 8-bit pixel art for the Dust Storm Warning alert

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CORE BADGE

HABOOB BADGE

ALERT
Dust Storm Warning
CODES
DSW
RARITY
★★★☆☆ RARE
UPGRADE
SANDWORM after 10 alerts

“A wall of dirt ate the horizon. You pulled aside and stayed alive. Grit: maximum.”

⚠ Do not seek out these events. They will find you.

Never travel toward a storm, fire, flood or any emergency to earn a badge. This page is general safety information, not an alert. If you get a real alert, follow the instructions in it and from local officials.

What this alert means

A Dust Storm Warning (DSW) means a wall of blowing dust or sand (a haboob) is dropping visibility to a quarter mile or less. It is most common in the desert Southwest and the Plains, and it is a major driving hazard.

NWS sends Dust Storm Warnings to phones.

What to do if you get one

  • Do not drive into a dust storm if you can avoid it.
  • Pull Aside, Stay Alive: if dense dust reaches the road, pull off the pavement as far as you can and stop.
  • Turn off all your lights, set the emergency brake and take your foot off the brake pedal, so other drivers don't follow your tail lights into you. Keep your seat belt on and wait it out.
  • If you cannot pull off, slow to a speed that suits the visibility, with lights on, and use the painted center line as a guide.

Summarized from the official guidance below. The alert itself and your local authorities always come first.

How the badge is earned

Your home area is inside a Dust Storm Warning polygon.

It happens automatically. The Badge Quest server reads the public FEMA IPAWS and National Weather Service alert feeds and awards the badge when an alert's official target area covers the home area you set (ZIP code or location). There's nothing to log or claim, and it can't be faked.

How rare is it?

RARE ★★★☆☆: the RARE tier means 50 to 199 WEA messages a year nationally. ~177 WEA messages/yr nationally (2023-25 avg: 81 / 99 / 350).

WEA-flagged alert messages in FEMA's IPAWS archive (IPAWS archive filter: DSW). One message can cover a small area, so your personal odds are much lower.
YearHABOOB messagesAll WEA messages
2023817,349
20249910,377
202535010,284
Avg / yr1779,337

IEM counts 81 / 99 / 350 NWS Dust Storm Warnings in 2023/24/25. Every one went to phones.

How rarity is calculated

Upgrade: SANDWORM

HABOOB badgeSANDWORM, the upgraded HABOOB badge: pixel art

SANDWORM

★★★★☆ EPIC

After 10 different qualifying alerts for your area, the game shows “Hold on... your HABOOB badge is upgrading!” and then “Your HABOOB badge was upgraded to a SANDWORM!”. Repeats of the same alert don't count twice.

“Ten haboobs. Pull aside, stay alive. The desert stopped trying to bury you and adopted you.”

Upgraded badges rank one rarity tier above their base badge (capped at LEGENDARY). That tier is a game rule, not a separate statistic.

Part of these combo badges

Official sources

Rarity data

Collect them all

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