A sand wind from the Sahara reaches Cancun in the Mexican Caribbean.
A huge cloud of fine sand and dust from the Sahara desert, carried by the winds, is currently suffocating the Caribbean, including the French Antilles, and even began to affect Florida on Wednesday, warned the American and French authorities. Air quality has deteriorated in Miami, with the city’s health officials advising residents with respiratory problems to stay at home. The particle cloud is likely to pollute the air in Florida until next week, the authorities of the peninsula warned.
In recent days, various islands in the Caribbean arc, such as Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe or Martinique, have seen their skies darken due to this cloud. That a “mist of sand” thus crosses the Atlantic for thousands of kilometers, pushed by the trade winds, is a classic event, according to meteorologists. But this year the phenomenon has reached an intensity that has not been seen in decades.
The highest concentration this Thursday
On observe “dust areas of the Sahara on the Cuban capital, but it is tomorrow (Thursday) morning that will be the highest concentration“Cuban meteorologist José Rubiera said on Facebook.”Dr. Olga Mayol, of the University of Puerto Rico, an island strongly affected by this cloud of dust, estimates that this year, the intensity is the strongest for 50 or 60 years“, he said.
Tuesday, in Guadeloupe, in the French Antilles, the concentration of PM10 fine particles in the air greatly exceeded the alert threshold, namely 80 g / m3 on average over 24 hours, said the prefecture of Guadeloupe in a joint press release with Gwad’Air, which controls the air quality of the territory. The prefectures of Guadeloupe and Martinique, another French territory in the Antilles, triggered “alert procedures“.
The phenomenon is due to a mass of hot and dry air which raises the temperatures but also blocks the formation of tropical cyclones, resulting in a high thermal sensation and less rain.
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