It’s normal for Saharan dust to blow into the Americas—in fact, The dust makes the journey year after year, starting around mid-June and tapering off around mid-August. The good news is, the dust plumes can deflate newly-forming hurricanes they might encounter on their way over. But the bad news is that dust is a respiratory irritant, and we could use fewer of those during the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, the current plume is particularly dense, and it’s not alone: the African desert is now releasing another that’s working its way across the Atlantic and will arrive in a few days. Still more could be on the way as the summer goes on.
Nicknamed "Godzilla" for its unusually large size, the plume of dust began to emerge off western Africa last weekend and now has traveled over 4,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the Weather Channel said.
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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although some people may be more sensitive to the dust than others, University of Texas meteorology lecturer Troy Kimmel said there may be a silver lining because of the timing of the cloud’s arrival during the coronavirus pandemic: “The good news with that is we’re all wearing masks.”
Another benefit of dust from the Sahara Desert: more vivid sunsets and sunrises. As the sun passes the curve of the Earth, its rays shine through a thicker layer of atmosphere.