head up , Texas . A gigantic cloud of detritus from the Sahara Desert is heading westwards across the Atlantic Ocean and could get hold of the US by early next week .
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) satellitecaptured a sensational imageof the dust blowing off the westerly coast of Africa on June 7 .
TheNational Weather Service Houstonhas forecasted the large swarm of Saharan dust will continue to migrate across the Atlantic this week , pass on the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico , then move into Southeast Texas by Tuesday , June 23 . A forecast from NASA ’s GEOS-5 modelalso suggests it could hit parts of Florida and Louisanna around that metre too .
If you ’re in this corner of the world over the next week , you could expect to see some bleary skies during the day , along with some arresting break of the day and sunset over the twilight hours .
“ If this dust reaches the expanse we should expect some crimson skies at sunrise and sundown for a few day and probably ironic weather condition as well,”tweetedthe National Weather Service Houston .
The colossal watercourse of desert dust is traveling along theSaharan Air Layer , a layer of bake hot and wry air in the atmosphere that travel around 10 to 25 meters per 2nd ( 33 to 82 feet ) above the cooler surface air of the Atlantic Ocean . The Saharan Air Layer usually ramps up in mid - June , peaking over the course of summer , and pump out a burst of body process over the tropic North Atlantic every three to five days .
“ We ’ve had a few outbreak , but this one is substantial based on size of it and how far westward it is gain , ” Jason Dunion , a meteorologist from the University of Miami and enquiry scientist with NOAA , enjoin thePalm Beach Post . “ This one lifted a lot of dust off the Sahara , ” he added .
The Saharan Air Layer also tend to suppress hurricane activity , which is welcome news considering we have recently enteredan especially rocky hurricane season .
Oddly enough , the Saharan rubble can also spark toxic algal blooms in North America . Research by NASA in 2001found Saharan dust cloud can sprinkle the piddle off the West Florida sea-coast with iron , which kicks off blooms of toxic alga . Along with turning Ethel Waters an otherwordly red color , the toxic alga bloom can kill big number of fish , mollusk , nautical mammals , snort , and can get hide and respiratory problems in humans .
