USVI-On-Line

Looks like the hot hazy days continue on STJ. Any word on what the haze is all about? It's just not moving out at all. What's the forcast?

This appears to be African Dust...very early, very heavy, maybe the heaviest I've ever seen. The southeast winds are also bringing record high temperatures, as they have periodically for the past three months. Supposed to go back to more normal easterly by Sunday, at least for a few days.

Here is my reply to Connie.......

"I don't think it is Saraha Dust as it is too early in the year. I think Montserrat might have erupted but the official website is now only giving weekly reports so I can't find out for sure - hubby just thinks it is heat haze because, well, boy it is hot and humid"

Forecast - Diana you know better than to ask that question it always reads the same and they never talk about "haze" only rain % and we know what that means

Pia

Pia wrote:WOW does not look good for the near future - boy it's early this year. Here is one of the links that we use just scroll down to SAL (Saharan Air Layer) .........

http://stormcarib.com/goes.htm

Pia, as a veteran of Saharan air, do you know of any negative effects it brings beyond hazy skies?

[EDIT] I found out a little more... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saharan_Air_Layer

Bummer. I thought it looked like Sahara Haze. Oh, well. It is what it is.

augie wrote:
Pia, as a veteran of Saharan air, do you know of any negative effects it brings beyond hazy skies?

[EDIT] I found out a little more... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saharan_Air_Layer

"The SAL has also been observed to suppress the development of tropical cyclones..."

At least that's some good news, right?

What effect does the Saharan Air Layer have on the weather? Does it bring rain or just haze? Hopefully not rain since we'll be on island in 6 days.

Generally it suppresses rain, which is very bad for us at this time of year-- and it may be one of the reasons that May is averaging much drier in the past 30 years than in all the previous decades that rain has been recorded here. We did not see African dust regularly until the 1980s.
I prefer to not call it Sahara dust, because it mostly comes from areas that are becoming desert, not the relatively old and settled Sahara. Lake Chad, with drastically declining water levels, has been called the "most active dust spot in the world" which is saying a lot. The Gobi Desert of Northern China is expanding rapidly and has sent dust plumes all the way across the Pacific to the Western US.
There are on-going studies of the materials, both natural and synthetic, which may be coming in with the dust, particularly in respect to what may be affecting coral and what may be going into our cisterns. Many pesticides, for example, that are banned in the US are still being exported to Africa.