BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -
Have you heard? A BIG plume of Saharan Dust will move into the Brazos Valley, Texas, and much of the Gulf Coast this week. Before the sky turns a hazy gray, here is what you can expect and what may just be an over-exaggeration on social media’s part.
1) 2020 is still 2020-ing. Now we have to deal with dust all the way from the Sahara?!
Sure. 2020 has been a doozy. However, this is nothing new. Saharan dust typically makes the 5,000+ mile journey across the Atlantic and into parts of the United States during the early summer months.
2) Have you ever seen a dust storm in West Texas?! That’s what this will look like!
Nope. When that Saharan dust arrives in our atmosphere, it will NOT look like this:
But it will look like this! These are pictures of Saharan dust lofted high above the Brazos Valley and Southeast Texas in 2018:
3) Stay inside! Saharan dust will make you sick.
For those with pre-existing conditions, the air may feel heavier late this week and weekend. For that group, you will likely want to remain indoors as much as possible. Those with nasal allergies and / or respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD may be impacted the most. In some cases, different types of mold spores, viruses (no, not COVID-19), and pollens from other parts of the world may cause a few of us, without pre-existing conditions, agitation.
There is a chance you may find yourself sniffling, sneezing, and reaching for relief like the overly-dramatic dramatization below:
4) Rain is the forecast. Your car will be covered in dust and mud!
Most of this dust plume is lofted 15,000 to 16,500 feet above the earth’s surface. While some minor concentrations of dust may settle down toward the ground, this is all expected to generally blow-by over the Brazos Valley’s heads. If we can pull off a soaking rain, that should help clear the haze out of the sky and improve the air quality for a short while before more dust swings back in. Here’s what that looked like over the weekend in Northern Trinidad after a round of storms:
5) The #BrazosValleySunset is going to be spectacular!
Normally, yes! A lighter concentration of Saharan dust usually brings a brilliant glow to the evening sky as the sun drops to the horizon. In this case, the concentration is expected to be incredibly high keeping the scattering process for those colors to shine from happening. We can call it unique, though. Assuming rain and clouds are out of the area, the sun should look like a bright pinhole as it dives to the horizon. Check out what it looked like over the Brazos Valley back in July of 2016 and again in 2018:
6) BONUS: This dust helps the Amazon rain forest!
Sure does! That dust settles and adds nutrients and minerals to help keep the rain forest healthy and growing. No joke! NASA shows how the dust fees the Amazon’s plants and how much of a small world it really is after all.
7) 2020 is probably sending us that sand-ghost thing from the movie “The Mummy!”
Scientifically...that is a hard one to answer. It is 2020 though, so maybe have Brendan Fraser and The Rock on speed dial...Just in case.
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June 23, 2020 at 12:46PM
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Saharan Dust: What to expect and what not to - KBTX
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