21st June 2020
Large plume of Saharan dust to continue affecting our region including St Lucia causing low visibility and below normal air quality
By Accuweather
Crimson sunrises and sunsets will paint the eastern Texas sky this week, most likely not as any ill omen for the remaining months of 2020, but from dust.
An "abnormally large dust cloud" from the Sahara is making about a 5,000-mile trek across the Atlantic, heralding the chance of red sunrises and sunsets across the Gulf Coast and suppressing tropical development in the Atlantic Basin. However, it may also pose a possible health hazard to those living along the Gulf coast.
Although it isn't uncommon for the Trade Winds to carry dust from the Sahara to the Gulf Coast, this plume has caught the attention of a few meteorologists.
"According to scientists that I have gotten some information from, they're saying this is an abnormally large dust cloud," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and lead hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski told AccuWeather's Jonathan Petramala. "One of the things I noticed from this is the dust started coming off the coast of Africa several days ago, in fact maybe over a week ago. And it's still coming. It's almost like a prolonged area of dust."
Dust making this journey from the Sahara to the Gulf Coast is common during June, July and sometimes into early August. Picked up by the Trade Winds and lofted higher up into the atmosphere, the dust gets trapped as the wind spirits it away across the Atlantic.
"This is the dusty time of the year," Kottlowski said. This year, he believes a stronger-than-normal, or at least a very active, African easterly jet might be at play in spurring the abnormal dust plume.
As the dust is carried across the Atlantic, it tends to suppress tropical development.
"I was amazed that the dust is still coming off the coast," Kottlowski said. "You don't see a break in it, so it's just a sort of long-lasting area of dust. We're going to see hazy skies across the Caribbean, probably into Florida into parts of the Gulf of Mexico area, probably for a week or two."
The dust is expected to reach the Gulf Coast between Tuesday and Thursday, Kottlowski estimated. With the hazy skies, the sun's rays will have to bend around the dust particles as sunlight filters through the sky, creating vivid red sunrises and sunsets.
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