>It's related to it being a particular good opposition. Actually, it's not. Mars reaches perihelion about every 2 Earth years without encountering a dust stor

>It's related to it being a particular good opposition. Actually, it's not. Mars reaches perihelion about every 2 Earth years without encountering a dust storm of this magnitude. It's also important to point out that the distance of a planet to the Sun usually does not have a great effect on the weather. Even though Mars has a more elliptical orbit than most, the difference in light received at its closest/furthest points to the Sun only accounts to about .7 times the light received from the Sun.