The Winds were what the Vulcan people named a harsh and regularly recurring storm pattern which was prompted by the influence of sunspots. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Even drier than the usual sandstorm, the Winds turned the great sands of Vulcan’s deserts into a hell that wouldn’t stop for weeks at a time. During this time, water became scarce and game would flee and become difficult to come by. It was a time of grit and thirst and suffering even when one was fortunate enough to have a source of water and adequate shelter at hand. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
When the Winds started, travelling was to be avoided if possible because staying indoors or sheltered was infinitely preferable to being out in the open where the sand would blast an unprotected individual raw. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Stages[]
The Winds would descend upon the desert with a darkness even during the day, accompanied by a never-ending scream like a thousand lematyas. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Over the course of the last day of the phenomenon, the wind would get to its worst before it finally broke and would thenceforth begin to gradually decline and quiet over the course of hours. Before dissipating completely, the wind would give one final shriek that faded to a sigh, and then finally into silence. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Getting caught inside the Winds[]
Those caught inside the Winds were left blind. All sense of direction was lost and the horizon disappeared and an all-encompassing dune-colored wall of stinging sand was all the eye could see. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
One had to breathe through physical barriers such as masks or (in ancient times) hides. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
The blast of sand and dust against the body was almost impossible to resist as the wind blew one this way or that with a wearying dispassionate cruelty. In order to avoid being separated or thrown into each other by the force of the wind or the blindness which came with it, it was best for groups out in the open to tie themselves to one another in a long line and dig themselves into the sand for purchase when the winds got really bad. (TOS novel: Spock's World)