ORLANDO, Fla. – It happens a couple of times a year, but the first round of dust from the Sahara Desert this season will visit Florida late this weekend or early next week.
The dust may start to creep into South Florida Sunday, but should arrive in Central Florida Monday.
Another plume, potentially even thicker, could arrive by next weekend.
The drier air associated with this Saharan Air Layer will also help to lower storm chances in Central Florida next week. Because the air is drier, it will allow for hotter actual air temperatures.
The dust plume is best known for helping to tame the tropics, but it’s also known for other things.
Typically the dust particles are suspended several thousand feet up in the air, but if the dust plume is thick enough, it could cause air-quality issues for sensitive groups.
The dust can also fuel red tide and other algal blooms.
Click here for more on the good, bad and ugly of the yearly occurring Saharan dust phenomenon.
If the concentration of dust isn’t too thick, the dust can actually help to enhance our sunrises and sunsets. If it is too thick, however, it can make for dull, dim or milky skies.
The dust has been uncharacteristically low in concentration for the start of the hurricane season. Typically, the Central Atlantic, between the Lesser Antilles and Africa, is filled up with dust, but that has not been the case this year.
The trade winds then help to push these dust plumes across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean and southern U.S.
The lack of dust likely helped the rare formations of tropical storms Bret and Cindy. Since the late 1800s, only a handful of storms have developed east of the Caribbean in June.
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