Saharan dust plume heading to US; what does this mean? | Tracking the Tropics
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What is the Saharan dust plume and why is it heading to the US this week?
Live from our hurricane headquarters with real-time analysis from some of the nation's top meteorologists, this is Tracking the Tropics, powered by Bose Generators.
Welcome to this week's edition of Tracking the Tropics. The good news is there's not much to talk about. The bad news is we get really, really nerdy when there's not much to talk about, and that's certainly going to be the case today. I'm meteorologist Rebecca Berry here at the WFLA Streaming Center, and I'm joined by meteorologist Juliana Mejia. She has been our Tracking the Tropics graphics superstar. She's been hard at work all this morning because we're gonna talk nerdy to you. We're talking Talking about Saharan Dust, all episode long, but first let's get the good news out of the way.
Yeah, absolutely. It is quiet across the tropics. So there's quite at least across the Atlantic basin, I should say. Things are a lot more active over the Pacific, which we'll get into uh in a little bit. Um, but you know, the Sahara dust working its magic, it's still early in the season as well. Um so not not necessarily out of the norm for things to be quiet across the Atlantic, uh, but it is certainly what we like to see. Uh so kind of Jumping right into it when it comes to Sahara Dust. You know, I've seen other meteorologists across the country because Sahara dust can be far reaching. It it's not just here in Florida where we can see it and feel the impacts from it. Um depending on, you know, the circulation on a given day on a given week, this dust can reach all the way up into the Midwest and northern United States.
Um so I have seen comments on not only, you know, my posts from time to time, but Other meteorologists across the country where people are like, is that really from the Saharan Desert? Like, is it dust all the way from Africa? Yes, the answer is yes. Um, so this is because of the West African monsoon season. They kind of have almost like two waves of it. So it kind of starts up in June and then leading into July, it almost kicks into gear, a little bit more of a high gear. Um, so then we can see greater plumes, thicker plumes of Saharan desert. dust really get lofted. And so what happens is these thunderstorms literally end up lofting Saharan dust about five to sometimes upwards of 10, 15,000 feet up.
Which then gets carried by the trade winds. These easterly trade winds literally carry it thousands of miles across the Atlantic, uh, over towards the Caribbean, the Gulf, here across Florida, the Bahamas. And this can, you know, take days. This can spend weeks aloft in the air, um, and and reach areas like Florida and other parts of the United States. So here's a look at the current forecast. So we are actually watching for our first really thick plume here in Florida through the next couple of days. Uh and then I think even into the weekend we could probably see some more of it now looking to other parts of the Gulf Coast as well for some impacts from Saharan dust. And here's also a breakdown as well.
kinda to visualize, you know, how this then affects the tropics, because uh, you know, w why would that like why would dust get in the way if you don't, you know, are not familiar with the key ingredients when it comes to tropical activity? Um, because this is the biggest benefit. We'll kind of go over some other pros and cons as well here in just a second. But uh, you know, key tropical ingredients, we need abundant moisture in the atmosphere. Can't have a hurricane without a whole bunch of moisture. We need water temperatures around, if not above, eighty degrees, um, in the Atlantic Caribbean Gulf. So now Saharan dust, when that becomes a part of the equation. sunlight can't penetrate as much, especially when it's a thick plume of Saharan dust.
Um it will behave very much like cloud cover. And then uh drier air overall is just taking away from one of the key ingredients, moisture. Um so we can actually see some sunlight getting reflected back into the upper parts of the atmosphere. That means less sunlight. is not gonna cook the uh sea surface temperatures or the ocean as much as it tends to.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the Saharan dust plume and why is it heading to the US this week?
0:00–5:30
2
How does the West African monsoon lift dust into the atmosphere?
5:30–11:42
3
What impact does Saharan dust have on tropical moisture and hurricane development?
11:42–16:13
4
What are the pros and cons of a thick Saharan dust plume for Florida’s weather?
16:13–20:27
5
How does Saharan dust affect air quality and people with asthma or allergies?
20:27–22:41
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Tracking the Tropics: Hurricane Season Podcast
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