Get ready for slightly hazy days and hue-altered sunrises and sunsets, South Florida. Saharan dust is here from Africa.
And while dealing with the possible respiratory concerns resulting from the Saharan dust, South Floridians also had to prepare for a Saturday heat index that could make it feel as though it’s 100 degrees.
“It’s probably the first hot and humid weekend of the season,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Molleda.
This patch of Saharan dust arrived late Friday and overnight Saturday and extends from the Caribbean into South Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
“It’ll probably be with us [Sunday] and even into Monday,” Molleda said.
The Saharan dust, officially known as the Saharan Air Layer [SAL], usually starts about one mile above the Earth’s surface and is between two to two and half miles thick. It’s usually most active from mid-June to mid-August, and the dust can travel as far west as Texas and as far south as Cuba and Central America.
The dust isn’t common in May.
“It’s probably a little bit earlier than normal,” Molleda said about the dust over South Florida now.
As for the air quality, it’s moderate right now, but the dust can alter air quality.
“It can lead to air quality that’s not as good as it normally is,” Molleda said.
It can also lead to sunrises and sunsets not as good as normal, depending on your point of view. The Saharan dust often puts a singular yellowish tint on the sunrises and sunsets, Molleda said, and you don’t get as much orange, red and purple as the sunrises and sunsets not affected by the dust.
Saharan dust has a reputation for inhibiting the development or intensification of tropical storm activity. It’s not the dust that suppresses the storm formation and/or strengthening but rather the hot, dry air from the desert that carries the dust. Hurricanes need moisture to survive.
Scientists track the dust’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean with satellites.
As for the South Florida’s weekend weather, it’ll be breezy, hot, and humid, and it has nothing to do with the Saharan dust.
Winds will come from the east and southeast, meaning there’s a high risk for rip currents Saturday and Sunday.
High temperatures should be around 90 Saturday, and in the upper 80s Sunday.
Molleda said between Friday’s rain and the Saharan dust that came in behind it, there’s a tropical air mass over South Florida so the humidity levels will be high Saturday.
Sunday might be a bit cooler because of high-level cloud cover.
“It’s going to be a hot, humid weekend,” Molleda said.
