COVID-19 and now a Saharan dust cloud: Kansas health officials issue warnings, tips
Burning eyes. Coughing. Runny nose. Possible bronchitis.
As if with COVID-19 and Murder Wasps already on the prowl, 2020 needed another threat from nature: Here comes the Saharan Dust cloud, a massive swarm of dust that has swept from Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean, and is now reaching its way into the lower portions of the United States.
Dust is already hovering in the air of Kansas and Missouri, the National Weather Service reports.
The good news is that the dust particles, if they’re not flushed away soon by rain, could make some vivid sunsets.
Less positive:
“Particulate matter can cause health problems, even in healthy individuals,” the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday in a statement. “Individuals with respiratory issues, pre-existing heart or lung diseases, children and elderly may experience worse symptoms.”
The department suggested precautions:
▪ People with respiratory or heart related illness should remain indoors.
▪ Close doors and windows, and run air conditioners with air filters, to keep indoor air clean.
▪ Drink lots of water.
▪ Contact a doctor if you experience chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath or severe fatigue.
Scientists have been monitoring atmospheric dust from the Caribbean island of Barbados since 1965. The current cloud, traveling about a mile above sea level, is like nothing they’ve ever seen.
The dust particles are small enough, roughly 40 times smaller than a grain of fine beach sand, that get in people’s lungs and potentially the bloodstream. Historically, such plumes have tamped down the formation of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean, at least temporarily
In Haiti, fully cloaked earlier this week under a cloud of hot Saharan dust, residents reported that the panoramic view of the capital, Port-au-Prince, had vanished.
But John Bateman, public information officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that by the time the cloud reaches the United States, and certainly the Midwest, it tends to diffuse.
“It’s not going to show as a dramatic dust cloud,” he said. “It will really show up more as a haze.”
Although dust has already begun to linger in the air, rain storms were expected in the Kansas City area, likely beginning after 3 a.m. Saturday, and perhaps returning on and off through the day, said Al Pietrycha meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill. The rain is likely to flush much dust from the air, he said.
“From the public health concern, it is so diluted we’re not looking at any adverse impacts,” he said.
Weather Sunday: Dry. Hot. Humid, Pietrycha said. “Back to summer.”
Includes reporting by the Miami Herald’s Sarah Loftus and Jacqueline Charles.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 3:35 PM.
