B737-800
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation - Altitude Undershoot; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Human Factors; Weather
Our flight to PHX had been uneventful until we started the EAGUL6 arrival. Our radar started painting a substantial amount of thunderstorm activity between us and the airport. The thunderstorm activity ran basically south to north; east of the field by about 10 miles. ATC rerouted us to the north on a different arrival. I believe it was the DSERT2; but I am not sure. It really does not matter as the thunderstorms prevented us from actually doing this arrival. We deviated around the storms; following the aircraft in front of us. Once on the backside of the weather; we noticed a substantial amount of dust being kicked up by strong low level winds. Even at 14;000 ft we could see the dust moving rapidly to the west. ATC advised us that the previous aircraft had reported moderate turbulence ahead. In less than 30 seconds we experienced exactly that; with a 45 kt increase and altitude deviations of 200 feet. As we followed the line of planes to the airport the ride did not improve; with wild fluctuations in speed; pitch and bank. The autopilot kicked off a few times. As we were on downwind for Runway 8 we noticed 2 things. First; we could not see the airport due to the dust. We were in the clear; but the dust was obscuring most of the ground below about 1000 feet. Second; despite having a strong wind from the west at our altitude; you could clearly see the dust moving rapidly from the east below us. We discussed how it didn't look like we could land using Runway 8 since it appeared to be a large tailwind. Shortly after that conversation; ATC told us they were changing the airport around due to the preceding 4 aircraft going around. We turned around and got set up on a downwind for Runway 26; all the while still getting a very rough ride. As we passed over the city we flew beyond the dust clouds and the ride became smooth. Turning base we could actually make out the runway. We noticed however that the dust 'front' was between us and the runway. We discussed go around procedures recognizing that landing might not be possible. I configured the airplane early so we could be stable and recognize any adverse trends as soon as possible. Just prior to the dust; we got the beginning of a microburst. Power was near idle; airspeed increased (to almost over speeding the flaps); and an increase of altitude putting us way above the glideslope. We could not have landed if we had to. We called for the go around; getting a very rough ride. We told ATC that we were diverting to our alternate of ZZZ. They advised us it was closed. This was news to us as we had not received any word from Dispatch that our alternate was no longer viable. We asked ATC what was the nearest open airport. After a minute of checking he told us ZZZ1; and one other I can't remember. ZZZ1 was the closest but still 234 miles away with weather between us! We put ZZZ1 in the FMS and it showed us arriving with less than 2;000 lbs of fuel. We declared min fuel and told ATC that after deviating around the storms our route to ZZZ1 would be direct. We notified Dispatch of our diversion and FOB. We climbed fairly high for a short route to save fuel. The Captain did a flaps 15 landing; again to use less fuel. We landed with about 2.7 FOB.I believe we got 'painted into a corner' due to the weather rapidly deteriorating at both our destination and alternate at the same time. Also; this isn't the Midwest or North East. Airports aren't every 50 miles.My only question is this: why did we not get any notification from Dispatch about our alternate? Did the weather in ZZZ go downhill and Dispatch not notice? Or; did the weather that closed ZZZ happen so fast that there was no time to notify us? If we had had that one piece of information we would not have tried to land in PHX. We would have gone somewhere else sooner and wouldn't have been in such a low fuel situation.
B737-800 pilot reported diverting with minimum fuel after PHX began experiencing dust storms and microbursts.