{"id":13899,"date":"2018-03-28T10:27:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=13899"},"modified":"2018-03-28T10:27:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:27:18","slug":"sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

C. S. Destin | Anu met Service<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

In addition to heat, the orientation of Atlantic High is causing winds to transport dry, dusty and unhealthy air from the Sahara Desert, in Africa, to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

The dust streams across the Caribbean all year round, via the generally easterly wind flow between Africa and our region. The flow of dust peaks in June and decline to a minimum in December. It is most abundant over the period May to September, when it is often times transported by tropical waves, which originate over Africa.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The dust is a major health concern.\u00a0Research\u00a0has shown that the dust causes asthmatic flare ups and other respiratory complaints. The\u00a0impact of the dust on health\u00a0is said to be caused mainly by the bacterial and fungal spores it contains.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Of much graver concern to health professionals is the fact that the dust also contains chemicals such as pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,\u00a0which are known to be\u00a0very harmful to human health.<\/p>\n

Research has also shown that the dust may be\u00a0harmful to coral reefs. According to retired geologist\u00a0Gene Shinn, \u201cOur hypothesis is that much of the coral reef decline in the Caribbean is a result of pathogens transported in dust from North Africa\u201d.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The dust has also been credited for algae blooms in a phenomenon called \u201cred tide\u201d.\u00a0This sought of bloom has been responsible for the death of\u00a0millions of fish\u00a0and other marine life, in the past.<\/p>\n

\ufffc<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Sahara Desert \u2013 the Source of the Dust<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The Saharan dust is not all bad. In addition to being a hurricane blocker, it is good for the environment. The dust is rich in plant nutrients and is believed to be largely responsible for the\u00a0fertility of the Amazon Rainforest.<\/p>\n

This air is notorious for \u201cstifling\u201d shower activity and in the past has triggered or exacerbated droughts in the region and further afield. It\u2019s also a hurricane blocker \u2013 it hinders or weakens tropical cyclones (depressions, storms and hurricanes).<\/p>\n

Depending on the amount of dust, the reflection and refraction caused can result in magnificent sunsets.<\/p>\n

The dust is not predictable beyond days; thus, its impact on the upcoming hurricane season is unknown. However, once present, it could combine with El Nino to produce a very quiet hurricane season. Additionally, it could combine with El Nino to cause well below normal rainfall for the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

So the Saharan dust is not a simple matter; it not only causes hazy skies, but among other things, causes disease. It would be wise to take as much precaution, as possible, to avoid inhaling it.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate, this particular episode of Saharan dust will diminish to negligible levels across Antigua and the rest of the northeast Caribbean by Friday and most of the rest of the area by Saturday. The exception may be some of the southern islands such as Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C. S. Destin | Anu met Service In addition to heat, the orientation of Atlantic High is causing winds to transport dry, dusty and unhealthy air from the Sahara Desert, in Africa, to the Caribbean. The dust streams across the Caribbean all year round, via the generally easterly wind flow between Africa and our region. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSahara Dust blankets Antigua, region - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"C. S. Destin | Anu met Service In addition to heat, the orientation of Atlantic High is causing winds to transport dry, dusty and unhealthy air from the Sahara Desert, in Africa, to the Caribbean. The dust streams across the Caribbean all year round, via the generally easterly wind flow between Africa and our region. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1012\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"668\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\"},\"wordCount\":494,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\",\"name\":\"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg\",\"width\":\"1012\",\"height\":\"668\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region","og_description":"C. S. Destin | Anu met Service In addition to heat, the orientation of Atlantic High is causing winds to transport dry, dusty and unhealthy air from the Sahara Desert, in Africa, to the Caribbean. The dust streams across the Caribbean all year round, via the generally easterly wind flow between Africa and our region. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1012,"height":668,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region","datePublished":"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/"},"wordCount":494,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/","name":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-28T14:27:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1012\/h:668\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sahara.jpg","width":"1012","height":"668"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/sahara-dust-blankets-antigua-region\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sahara Dust blankets Antigua, region"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/13900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}