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Saharan dust: This dust has spread our way thanks to a strong area of high pressure across the Atlantic and there is another batch currently moving off the west coast of Africa. While this is a positive in the short-term hindering tropical development, the steering current could be an indication of what’s the come later on in the season.
This same flow could mean tropical systems would be steered in the same direction as the dust and come uncomfortably close to the U.S. Long-range models indicate a higher-than-normal pressure may build in the northeast U.S. and southern Canada, which could steer storms toward the Florida Peninsula or Southeast U.S.
Saharan dust is an annual phenomenon when winds over Africa pick up millions of tons of dust and blow them across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s most prolific from June through August. That dust not only helps to fertilize the water and soils of the Americas, according to NASA, but there are also a couple of other atmospheric changes. Read more
