Giant dust cloud from Sahara Desert blankets Caribbean on way to US

"This is the most significant event in the past 50 years"
The dust arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Monday
AFP via Getty Images
Imogen Braddick23 June 2020

A giant dust plume is expected to reach the United States this week after a 5,000-mile journey from the Sahara Desert.

The thick blanket of dust has already travelled more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, covering an area larger than the United States and western Europe.

Pictures show hazy skies in the city of San Juan in Puerto Rico and air quality across most of the region has reached record “hazardous” levels.

"This is the most significant event in the past 50 years," said Pablo Méndez Lázaro, an environmental health specialist at the University of Puerto Rico.

"Conditions are dangerous in many Caribbean islands."

A satellite photo shows the dust arriving in the Caribbean on Monday 
AP

Hazy conditions and limited visibility were reported from Antigua down to Trinidad and Tobago, with the event expected to last until late Tuesday.

Some of the dust, which started streaming across from Africa’s west coast on June 13, is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the US later this week.

Visibility in the city of San Juan is limited as the dust cloud moves in
AFP via Getty Images

Forecasters said the worst days for the US would be Monday and Tuesday as the plume heads towards the south east coast.

The cloud is expected to reach the Texas coast on Thursday and encompass the entire Gulf Coast by the weekend.

Hundreds of millions of tonnes of dust are picked up from the deserts of Africa and blown across the Atlantic Ocean each year.

The dust often reaches as far west as the Caribbean Sea, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico - a 5,000-mile-long journey.

CNN Meteorologist Haley Brink said: "Large plumes of Saharan dust routinely track into the Atlantic Ocean from late spring into early fall.

A vast cloud of dust is blanketing the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico
AFP via Getty Images

"Every so often, when the dust plume is large enough and trade winds set up just right, the dust can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic and into the US."

The dust helps build beaches in the Caribbean and fertilises soils in the Amazon, Nasa said.

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