Saharan dust turns Caribbean brown

A vast plume of Saharan dust is shrouding swathes of the Caribbean, Central America and southern U.S. states. Meteorologists say it is the biggest and densest concentration of dust for half a century


Saharan Air Layer (SAL): Mass of extremely dry and dusty air created by strong winds over Sahara moves across Atlantic every 3-5 days from late spring to early fall, peaking from late June to mid-August

Saharan winds pick up over 800 million tonnes of dust every year

Dust can adversely affect air quality but helps build beaches in Caribbean and fertilizes soils in Amazon


Jun 18: SAL “outbreak” spotted by NASA-NOAA satellite

North America
Caribbean 
Amazon
Sahara Desert


Abnormally large dust cloud trekking 8,000km across Atlantic, suppressing
storm formation

Jun 25: SAL expected to reach Gulf Coast states including Texas and Louisiana

U.S.
TX
LA
Gulf of Mexico
MEXICO
Caribbean Sea
ATLANTIC OCEAN
VENEZUELA
Jun 25
Jun 24
Jun 23
500km 300 miles

People advised to stay at home if possible and wear face mask as dust is powerful irritant and could contain pathogens


Picture: NASA/Joshua Stevens/MODIS via EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview/DSCOVR/GSFC
Sources: AccuWeather, NOAA, NASA, Space.com, Associated Press 
© GRAPHIC NEWS