A covering of Sahara dust is moving across the Western Caribbean. Commonly known as the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), hundreds of millions of tons of dust are picked up from the deserts of Africa and blown across the Atlantic Ocean. On the positive side, the dust helps build beaches in the Caribbean, fertilizes soils and usually keeps hurricanes away. Hurricanes need very humid air with light winds to form.
On the negative side, Sahara dust severely affects the air quality. The dust covering causes harmful heat stress-related impacts on humans, animals and plants. In humans, it can bring minor respiratory irritation and exacerbate allergies and asthma.
Expect hazy and hot weather conditions and impressively vibrant sunsets. People should take extra care to stay hydrated and avoid the heat by staying out of direct sunlight, especially from 11 am to 3pm.
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Diario Libre
22 June 2020