I’m heading back to base after cutting wood when I suddenly start taking huge amounts of damage. My screen has the bloody, red ring around it which means I’m hurting bad. I spin in circles like an idiot, trying to figure out what’s hurting me, but there’s nothing there. I finally realize the sandstorm icon is in the upper left corner so I look around frantically trying to figure out what’s going on. Sunny day, no wind, 100% visibility, but I’m dying fast. I ran for shelter, but didn’t make it. When I respawned on my bedroll, it said “You have died of yourself.” Um, what just happened? Do we have invisible sandstorms now? LOL I play on a private MP server (on PC), so maybe my computer guru husband can figure out what happened when he gets home.
I have seen this bug as well. I managed to get a screenie of it. Sandstorm notice with blue sky and fluffy white clouds behind it. Sandstorm with clear skies bug
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who experienced this. I thought I’d lost my freaking mind! 
When this happens it is server-wide. Everyone on my server experienced this in the same storm.
This has happened to me aswell on a public server.
I do believe this happens during the ‘Catch Up’ feature. had you experience night time at all after logging in for that session?
This happened to someone on my server as well, I was seeing the sandstorm but they had recently logged in and was taking damage but didn’t see the storm.