The biggest event of its kind this time, the Sahara Desert dust cloud, sprang up in the Caribbean on Monday, making it the biggest sight of its kind heading toward the United States. The cloud spanned about 3,200 km (2, 000 miles ) from Jamaica to Barbados in the eastern Caribbean, about 1,200 km ( 750 miles ) from the Turks and Caicos Islands in northern Caribbean, down south to Trinidad and Tobago, and about 1,200 km (2, 000 miles ) from Jamaica. It’s really impressive, according to Alex DaSilva, the direct hurricane specialist with AccuWeather. Regional experts advise those with allergies, asthma, and other conditions to stay home or use face masks if they are outside due to the hazy skies that caused coughs, sneezes, and watery eyes to spread throughout the Caribbean. According to Yidiana Zayas, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the dust concentration was high, with the highest level this year at.55 aerosol optical depth. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the aerosol optical depth measures how much direct sunlight is blocked from reaching the ground by particles. Late this week and into the weekend, according to DaSilva, the plume is expected to hit Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. However, he noted that plumes typically lose the majority of their focus in the eastern Caribbean. He said,” Those islands typically experience more of an impact, more of a concentration where it can occasionally temporarily block out the sun.” According to NOAA, the dry, dusty air known as the Saharan Air Layer travels west across the Atlantic Ocean from April to October over the Sahara Desert in Africa. Additionally, it prevents tropical waves from developing between June 1 and November 30 during the Atlantic hurricane season. According to DaSilva, June and July typically have the highest average dust concentration, with plumes moving anywhere from 5, 000 feet to 20, 000 feet above the ground. The Caribbean was smothered by a record-breaking cloud of Sahara dust in June 2020. Forecasters had to give the plume the nickname” Godzilla dust cloud” because it hadn’t been seen in 50 years.
