Posted on 07/23/2005 6:40:04 PM PDT by Black Tooth
Another storm is headed toward South Florida -- and it's not a hurricane.
Born in the desert of North Africa, an immense cloud of Saharan sand is being swept across the Atlantic Ocean by the tradewinds.
By early next week, South Floridians will experience hazy blue skies, bright orange sunsets and coats of reddish dust on their cars, the National Weather Service said Friday.
''This is not going to be a tremendous event, but it will be kind of interesting,'' said Jim Lushine, a severe weather expert with Miami's weather bureau.
The sand is lifted from the Sahara Desert, piggybacking on the tropical waves that sweep from east to west over the Atlantic. Such dust clouds are fairly common in July and August, although they can vary in intensity from year to year.
''It's really not rare,'' said Joseph M. Prospero, a professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. ``We normally see several extreme dust events each year.''
Air quality is expected to worsen a bit, although experts say the dust shouldn't pose any serious health problems. As a precaution, people with breathing problems may want to limit their time outdoors, said Jim Wheeler, a supervisor with the air monitoring division of the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management.
''Most of it is going to be in the upper atmosphere,'' Wheeler said.
This particular cloud will likely affect the Caribbean basin more directly, and linger over the region for about 12 hours. It measures about 1,500 miles north to south and 2,500 miles west to east.
Central Atlantic tropical wave along 44W/45W S of 22N moving W 15-20 kt with a 1011 mb low along the axis near 11N45W. The low Is faintly visible in satellite imagery and is embedded within a broad area of low pres near the itcz. Widespread dust/haze continues to move W with the wave and the dry air is limiting deep convection near and W of the axis. Low-level moisture being pulled nwd to the E is producing broken stratus with possible Showers S of 17N between 34W-44W.
Central Caribbean tropical wave along 70W S of 20N moving E 20 kt. San Juan upper air data show the mid-level part of the wave passing between 12z and 00z yesterday...and the low-level signature passed almost 12 hrs later. Satellite imagery suggests that the wave may be farther W near 74W based on sely streamer clouds extending from the srn windward islands to Jamaica...and this may be reflected in the 00z analysis. The wave marks the leading edge of the African dust surge...but dust concentrations do not appear to be as thick as they were for the past several days. Scattered moderate/strong convection over NW Venezuela and Nrn Colombia.
This after just reading a story about how sand
holds ten times as many bacteria as water. and
how it can keep several nasty kinds of bugs alive
in it...especially if it's wet.
Direct it north to Maryland and Delware to help with the beach restoration projects there.
Like ebola?
I thought coffee came from that dude on the mule from Columbia? ;-)
Nice. We send them billions in aid, forgive debt and they send us sandstorms and hurricanes in return. That's gratitude for ya!
But he was carried there by this freak sand storm that started in the Sahara Desert.
Prospero and the Tempest.
Nice.
Replace your car air filter.
But that's not possible! I learned from the environmentalists how everything evolved in its own little area. That's why there are so many more species than we thought - they may LOOK alike but they evolved separately in their low little areas (like the Spotted Owl in Oregon not being the same Spotted Owl that's so common in Northern California). The ONLY thing that interferes with that totally local evolution in man - going around place to place, bringing their cars, boats, planes, and horses and spreading species to areas they DON'T belong in, and invading the virgin environment. /sarcasm.
Yup and the orange color is iron oxide (rust) that 'fertlizes' the gulf and causes algae to grow and suck all the oxygen out of the water and kills the fish.
Too bad Florida can't sue for damages.
I lived on the beach there in a place called Indiatlantic (close to Melbourne), I either had salt or this orange dust on my car all the time.
Yeah. Dust storm and hurricane reparations.
Nasty.
You realize of course that cutting down the rain forests in Brazil has resulted in less rain in Africa and is slowing turning that Continent into a huge sandbox.
Has something to do with the direction of the winds and the jet stream.
And we are supposed to do what? Again, paging Al Gore, paging Al Gore
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