Heads Up, Boaters: Here Comes the Red Dust from Africa (Simulation)

​From NASA, NOAA & other sources

Every year, winds loft about 800 million metric tons of desert dust from North Africa—by far the planet’s largest source of airborne dust particles. The dust is often visible from space during the spring, summer, and early fall, when huge plumes of dry, dusty air from the Sahara Desert blow westward over the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Get ready boaters of the Caribbean and the U.S. Southeast, the red dust is coming now, bringing various benefits and potentially a little harm.

Among them: Beautiful sunrises and sunsets, lower risk of hurricane development, increased allergic reactions, increased chance of algae blooms in waterways, replenishment of nutrients in soils and, not least of which, reddish dust on your white decks.

"The plume of desert dust spans thousands of miles and is slithering across the ocean," The Washington Post reported. "Satellites peering down from space captured the coffee-colored veil being drawn over the Atlantic, slowly weaving westward with the tropical west Atlantic in its sights. Projections indicate that the dust could make it to the Caribbean by late this weekend and to the Gulf Coast in about a week."

Dust from Africa can affect air quality deep into the Gulf States if it is mixed into the air near the ground, where it is expected to reach by next weekend. The dust plays an important ecological role, such as fertilizing soils in the Amazon and building beaches in the Caribbean. The dry, warm, and windy conditions associated with Saharan Air Layer outbreaks can also suppress the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones.

​When the sun is low on the horizon in the morning and evening, the sun’s rays have to travel through more of the Earth’s atmosphere. The light scatters more, producing beautiful red, orange and pink colors in the sky.