air quality

[arenee]

I'm wondering if someone on island or who has just returned can tell me what the air quality is like right now on St. John? I know it sounds like an odd question, but two years ago when we were there my son had a respiritory attack which caused us to spend many hours at the Myra Keating clinic. We heard many possible explanations as to why this could have happened including: the vulcano on Montserrat, very little rain, humid conditions. In any event we are set to arrive on Friday and am hoping to not have a repeat performance. From the picture Captain Jay posted on another thread, I don't see any of the haze we had on our last visit so I am hoping things are just fine. Thanks in advance.

[rpplano]

If you were there around this time last year, there was a very heavy amount of sahara dust hanging in the air. I was affected somewhat by it. Hopefully, the condition that caused the dust to blow in from Africa won't happen this year.

[Joshie]

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[hugo]

It is hard to predict when the Sahara dust will arrive--the wind has to be south of east, and it can move there anytime in May or June, and can stay there most of the summer. I remember when Sahara dust first arrived, in the early 1970's. Nobody knew what it was, and it didn't hang around very long. It got commoner through the 80's and 90's, but recently it's changed again---in the past couple of years, it's much thicker and lower, visible across a bay or a valley, not just between the islands. We hate it, but we are trying to feel better about it, since it apparently suppresses hurricane formation.
Montserrat ash can look much the same, and comes with a slightly more south wind. I believe it's more irritating to the respiratory system, it's certainly more visible on the car windshield, etc. Your best bet for good air quality is to come between October and May, when the wind rarely veers south. As Joshie mentioned, the past few weeks have been brilliant, lets hope it holds (with a little rain, soon, please).