Do sandstorms actually do anything?

i sat afk in one for 5 minutes and nothing happenned. they look awesome, especially at night, but i dont see anything they do(other than make it slightly darker at night)

 

They used to in the final koala update. They would deal 3 damage for every second or so that you were in it. Unfortunately that has changed in Giraffe.

 

Well, to be honest, Desert planets are considered "Mostly Harmless" aka Level 2, and the first deadly weather(acid rain) does not appear until "Risky" aka Level 4, so it'd be pretty unfair if sandstorms did damage on Level 2, when you're just starting.

 

I still don't quite understand how the Risk level works yet, but I thought that different planets of the same biome could still be different risk levels?

 

Unfortunately at the moment risk is defined by biome...

As well weather is the same for individual biomes, as in a forest biome with always have the same weather; even when going to another forest planet.