Saharan Dust makes its way towards the United States; Will the Triad be impacted?
NOAA's GOES-19 satellite has been tracking Saharan dust thousands of miles across the Atlantic from May 28 through June 2.
It's common to see plumes of dust from the Saharan desert cross the Atlantic. Typically, the dust gets 'kicked up' into the atmosphere over the Sahara in the late spring, summer and early fall as monsoon season gets started just south of the Saharan desert.
The peak of the Saharan dust season is in late June to mid-August, just before the peak of hurricane season, which occurs from mid-August through mid-October.
One reason the Triad didn't see high impacts from the most recent plume of dust is due to the weather pattern over our area of the country.
The coastal low-pressure system that is bringing rain to the Piedmont Triad on Thursday is helping to keep the dust south of us, creating a bigger impact for those to our south, like Florida and even as far west as Texas.
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Saharan dust is nothing new. It happens every year around this time.
When storms form just south of the Sahara Desert in the Sahel region of Africa, dry, dusty air from the Sahara Desert is kicked up into the atmosphere.
This dust can collect in the atmosphere about 5,000 to 20,000 feet above the desert in a 2.5-mile-thick layer known as the Saharan Air Layer.
Well, in that layer above the surface are the trade winds, also known as the Harmattan wind. The Harmattan wind sends the dust into the African Easterly Jet that blows from the West Coast of Africa to the United States and carries the dust thousands of miles across the ocean.
As that dust moves over the Atlantic, it suppresses tropical cyclone development. The suppression of tropical development is due to the dry, strong winds associated with the Saharan dust, and it 'chokes out' any moisture of tropical cyclones that try to develop.
Tropical cyclones need warm, moist air, and the dryness of the dust can cut off the supply of warm, moist air and limit tropical cyclone development in the Atlantic as the dust moves across the ocean.
While suppressing tropical cyclone development is one of the main ways that Saharan dust impacts weather conditions, it can also have effects across the United States once it arrives. A few of the impacts include lowered air quality, lowered visibility or haziness and more vibrant sunrises or sunsets.
Saharan dust particles are very tiny, and, when sun filters through the particles, it scatters the sunlight even more and allows longer wavelength colors like oranges and reds to reach through and be more intense. The result is more vibrant sunrises and sunsets.
However, during the day, the dust makes the sky appear hazy and lowers our typical clear visibility of light blue skies.The dust particles in the atmosphere also impact our air quality, so those with any respiratory issues will typically be impacted more when the dust has made its way across the Atlantic.
The Saharan dust season has just begun and we'll likely see several more rounds of it as we head through the next few months. The FOX8 Max Weather Team will continue to track the Saharan dust as it moves over the Atlantic and will keep you updated with when it'll arrive and what impacts we could see here at home.
For more information on the West African Monsoon Season and Saharan dust, catch 'Beyond the Forecast' only available on our .
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