Leading to talk of “end times” on social media, a massive dust cloud from the Sahara Desert is heading for the United States.
As of Friday, the dust was about 1 mile above sea level and located between the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. National Weather Service meteorologist Rodney Wynn said, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Tampa Bay will get the full dust experience on Sunday.
Finally some dust in the wind. After a record low start to dust season, the Sahara Desert is open for business. This wlll make for hazy skies, but it will also help to suppress tropical activity and likely help cool the blazing hot Tropical Atlantic. pic.twitter.com/PMOpsLIFKS
— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) July 6, 2023
“It’s going to be warm and a little bit drier,” he said. “Probably about three to four degrees above average.”
Wynn said there won’t be much to see on the ground.
“It’s not like you’re going to wake up one morning and have dust on your car,” he said
Megan Borowski, a Florida Public Radio Emergency Network meteorologist, said the real show will be in the sky, noting the sunsets will be uniquely beautiful when the dust cloud arrives and turns the sky red.
Do you believe we are witnessing signs of the End Times?
Yes: 64% (28 Votes)
No: 36% (16 Votes)
“When the dust layer does arrive you can actually get really neat atmospheric optical effects,” Borowski said.
“One of the cool things that I’ve got pictures of are halos around the sun, and it’s just the way that the sand particles and dust particles actually reflect sunlight,” she said.
Not everyone was joyful, with one Twitter poster writing, “Aren’t the end-times magnificent?”
Massive dust cloud heading toward US may dim the sky this weekend https://t.co/3YAwa64vMX via @Yahoo Aren’t the end-times magnificent?
— &%$!#%&+ (@sinsibility) July 7, 2023
This year’s dust is nothing unusual, according to Austin, Texas, TV station KVUE-TV.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has said when the Saharan Air Layer makes its way across the Atlantic every year, “it usually occupies a 2 to 2.5-mile-thick layer of the atmosphere with its base starting about 1 mile above the surface.”
“Saharan dust is common most years across parts of the Atlantic basin and sometimes spreads as far west as the Caribbean and Florida,” AccuWeather Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said, according to AccuWeather. “The location and magnitude of the dust changes frequently throughout the season.”
Sorry Canadian wild fire smoke you are old news. We are here for the Sahara dust now! pic.twitter.com/XO5H0305mH
— Ian (@baronsta) July 7, 2023
Forecasters warn that while the dust is not a particularly rare occurrence, it could still impact people across the Southeast in the coming days.
The sky could appear opaque, Acccu Weather said.
A second dust cloud could arrive Tuesday, according to AccuWeather, and has the potential to reduce air quality to worsen across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and Florida.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said caregivers for children, babies, older adults and people with underlying lung conditions or chronic cardiopulmonary diseases should check the air quality before venturing outside when the Saharan dust is blowing through town.
