Sahara dust blankets Caribbean, air quality hazardous
Caribbean Life, June 26-July 2, 2020 23
By Danica Coto
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)
— A vast cloud of Sahara dust
is blanketing the Caribbean as
it heads to the U.S. with a size
and concentration that experts
say hasn’t been seen in half a
century.
Air quality across most of the
region fell to record “hazardous”
levels and experts who nicknamed
the event the “Godzilla dust cloud”
warned people to stay indoors and
use air filters if they have one.
“This is the most significant
event in the past 50 years,” said
Pablo Mendez Lazaro, an environmental
health specialist with the
University of Puerto Rico. “Conditions
are dangerous in many
Caribbean islands.”
Many health specialists were
concerned about those battling
respiratory symptoms tied to
COVID-19. Lazaro, who is working
with NASA to develop an alert
system for the arrival of Sahara
dust, said the concentration was
so high in recent days that it
could even have adverse effects on
healthy people.
Extremely hazy conditions and
limited visibility were reported
from Antigua down to Trinidad &
Tobago, with the event expected to
last until late Tuesday. Some people
posted pictures of themselves
on social media wearing double
masks to ward off the coronarivus
and the dust, while others joked
that the Caribbean looked like it
had received a yellow filter movie
treatment.
Jose Alamo, a meteorologist
with the U.S. National Weather
Service in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, said the worst days for the
U.S. territory would be Monday
and Tuesday as the plume travels
toward the U.S. southeast coast.
The main international airport
in San Juan was reporting only
five miles (eight kilometers) of
visibility.
The mass of extremely dry and
dusty air known as the Saharan
Air Layer forms over the
Sahara Desert and moves across
the North Atlantic every three
to five days from late spring to
early fall, peaking in late June to
mid-August, according to the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. It can occupy
a roughly two-mile thick layer in
the atmosphere, the agency said.
Alamo said a small tropical
wave headed to the Caribbean was
expected to alleviate conditions by
Thursday.
This satellite photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
NOAA, shows a could of dust coming from the Sahara desert arriving to the Caribbean
Monday, June 22, 2020. The massive cloud of dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads
to the U.S. with a size and concentration level that meteorologists say hasn’t been seen in
roughly half a century. NOAA via Associated Press