Texas got an annoying visitor from the Saharan Desert in North Africa. It traveled through air over the Atlantic Ocean and it’s going to pester residents of Texas for the couple of days. It will make them sneeze, itch, flu or even fever so better be prepared with your anti-histamines.
That visitor is named “Saharan Dust Cloud” or “Saharan Air Layer”, and meteorologists track it as it cross the Atlantic on its way to the Caribbean and South America.
A hurricane investigator with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Jason Dunion said in an interview with the World that the gigantic trail of dust that now crosses the Atlantic dwells in an area approximately three million square miles or almost tantamount to the lower 48 states. The National Weather Service Center (NWSC) estimated that the dust may reach 15,000 feet high over South Texas.
Meteorologist Krissy Scotten of the NWSC in Amarillo said in an interview with the World, “The African dust is finer than what we are used to in the panhandle. But, she says it still will have little impact to our area.”
However, a local allergy specialist at Allergy A.R.T.S. in Amarillo, Dr. Constantine Saadeh, stated that the effects of the Saharan dust can still be experienced in Amarillo.
He also added, "If you have allergies, the dust is going to make your allergies worse because the dust particles are going to settle in your lungs and in the nose and it's going to interfere with the ability of the nose to get rid of pollens. The concentration of the dust particle is very very high and very thick. Also this dust is not the result of poor agriculture. It is dust that has other things, other particles in it that are really bad for the lungs.”
So if you are known to have asthma or allergies, stay put inside your homes and avoid going out in the next few days.
On the other hand, this natural phenomenon has a positive effect. It can interrupt hurricane formations.
