So-called ‘dry’ microburst outflows are well known phenomena in desert environments when rain from moist convection aloft evaporates into deep, dry-adiabatic boundary layers. Extreme synoptic scale versions of this convective scale phenomenon have been documented in this study, in which the collective episodes of convective downdraft feed a common cold pool that expands as a gust front density current, raising large amount of dust in the boundary layer, and initiating new moist convection over the Sahara. Satellite observations from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager (SEVIRI) and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) combined with selected West African surface station observations have been integrated to study the gust front and its associated dust activity in the period of August 3-6, 2006. The meteorological conditions accompanying this event have been described using the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analyses. The gust front was initiated by a cluster of isolated cumulonimbus clouds over central Niger at 1400 UT on August 3 that lengthened to MCS size over Mali by the end of the day. At maximum expansion on August 5, the extending gust front exceeded 1500 km in length, with a transited area of lofted dust reaching a million square kilometers, mostly over southern Algeria and northern Mali. The northward gust front speed, estimated with SEVERI imagery, is rapid in initial stages but declines with time as the cold air absorbs heat from the hot desert surface and the gust front density contrast is diluted. The synoptic character of this event (both the length and the duration) allows for four intersections with CALIPSO orbits, thereby providing information on the evolution of the characteristics of the dusty gust front during its lifetime. Young dusty gust fronts (i.e. during the first 24 hours of the event) were characterized by lidar reflectivity at 532 nm in excess of 3 x 10-3 km-1 sr-1, temperature drops exceeding 10°C, 1 km visibility and their associated dense dust cloud reached 2 km in altitude. Older dusty gust fronts (i.e. from August 5 on) were associated with weaker lidar reflectivities (below 3 x 10-3 km-1 sr-1), same visibility conditions (~1km), temperature drops at the surface of about 5°C and their associated dust clouds reached higher altitudes (3-4 km). The northward transport of moisture over the Sahara desert associated with the northward excursion of the gust front was evident during this event. All gust front crossings were characterized by moisture increases at the surface. A large area (~400 km over longitude and 100 km over latitude) of high Water Vapor Mixing Ratios (up to 16 g kg-1) covered northeastern Mali and southwestern Algeria, confirming an impact at the synoptic scale. The pronounced northward propagation of the dusty gust front and its associated moisture is shown to have been favored by the presence of an active African Easterly Wave.