African sandstorm to have effect on Central Florida

[sweetpea]

African Sandstorm To Have Effect On Central Florida's Weather

POSTED: 4:19 pm EDT July 22, 2005
UPDATED: 4:38 pm EDT July 22, 2005

Central Florida will see effects from a massive African sandstorm as early as next week, according to Local 6 News.


Central Florida will see effects from a massive African sandstorm as early as next week, according to Local 6 News.




The weather phenomenon is part of a cycle that brings tropical storms and hurricanes to Florida.

Residents may notice hazy skies by Wednesday.

"The reason you probably haven't heard a lot about it is because the effects here are going to be very minimal," Local 6 News meteorologist Larry Mowry said. "What we're talking about are beautiful sunrises and sunsets with reddish hues to them. And you may have a little dust on your car if you leave it outside during the day."

The sandstorm could also cause breathing difficulties in Central Florida.

Friday, the mass was 1,400 miles away from Florida and it is roughly the same size as the continental United States, Local 6 News reported.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

[ericinmia]

I talked about this on a car forum i'm on....

Here is a link to the SAL... The red area north of hispanola is the Air mass they are refering too.
It will be spun around the southern end of Franklin and into florida...

[sweetpea]

good graphic. That is going to happen because I spent 2 hours today cleaning my cars.

[BayouVenteux]

As implied by your local met, there's a silver lining, even to a dust cloud. You'll be treated to some beautiful sunrises and sunsets...keep those digicams at the ready.

[NEXRAD]

I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for the information. Such explains why it has been hazy here in East Central Florida and perhaps why I've been sneezing more!

Jay
KSC FL

[sweetpea]

I can't get over the size of it.

[SeaBrz_FL]

Amazing:

"The dust cloud aiming this way is huge, about 2,500 miles from west to east and 1,500 miles from north to south, or almost as big as the United States .."

and great:

"One good side effect: It's difficult for tropical-storm development to occur in these dust outbreaks ..."

Click to read the Orlando Sentinel article

[Astro_man92]

how can all that dust go across the atlantic? you'd think that the moisture coming off of the atlantic would weigh down the dust particals in to the ocean so it wouln't go very far

[cycloneye]

how can all that dust go across the atlantic? you'd think that the moisture coming off of the atlantic would weigh down the dust particals in to the ocean so it wouln't go very far

The trade winds that blow from east to west from Africa are the cause that all that dust is transported from the african Saharan Dessert to the caribbean and the eastern US.

[sweetpea]

The weather phenomenon is part of a cycle that brings tropical storms and hurricanes to Florida.

So once this happens it kind of opens the door for the storms to start coming off and developing?

[cancunkid]

I saw Paul Goodlow talking about this on TWC yesterday when I was waiting to find out just how hot it was here. It was showing up on satellite it kinda reminded me of how excited they get when flocks? of bats show up on satellite. I guess it does have to be really huge to show up like that but I imagine the sunsets should be gorgeous someone take pics!

[EDR1222]

good graphic. That is going to happen because I spent 2 hours today cleaning my cars.

I know that feeling!

[sweetpea]

good graphic. That is going to happen because I spent 2 hours today cleaning my cars.

I know that feeling!

What made it so bad was that it was about 103 with the heat index.

[HurricaneQueen]

We are also expecting the sand storm in SW FL according to our local Mets. It happens fairly frequently sometimes more obviously than others.

On another note, we were just informed that the heat index at 11 PM is 93. Yuck!

Lynn

[WeatherNole]

Loop the SAL - it's even more impressive.

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/wavetrak/movies/m8g10split/m8g10splitjava5.html

Mike

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[Sanibel]

Local news says large SAL tracking across Atlantic.

Should produce hazy conditions over Florida tuesday...

[Hurricaneman]

Thats alot of dust

[DAVE440]

Maybe if they'd break out a dust mop and sweep the desert once in a while over there....

[micktooth]

Perhaps the sand will help restore all the beach erosion which occured from all the recent hurricanes!

[abajan]

As implied by your local met, there's a silver lining, even to a dust cloud. You'll be treated to some beautiful sunrises and sunsets...keep those digicams at the ready.

Volcanic ash tends to produce more beautiful sunsets, I think. We get quite a bit of Saharan dust here and usually the only thing spectacular is that you can stare directly at the sun without damaging your eyes, even when it's fairly high up in the sky (from sunrise to about 9:00 AM and from 3:00 PM to sunset).

DISCLAIMER: It is not advisable to stare at the sun without adequate protection for your eyes!