Sandstorm freezes the game

it doesn't matter if it is a natural occurrence or summoned by a move, during the first attack phase in sandstorm weather the game freezes. I left the game open for a few hours to see if it would unfreeze by itself but it won't. Since one of the areas I need to pass through in order to progress in the game is a desert, I am having difficulty not accidentally triggering the game to freeze.