God knows we’ve got enough dust to contend with on Grand Cayman, especially with road work in the west of the island and water pipe being installed in the east.
Dust can be miserable. You have to keep houses closed and cars tend to get filthy.
But there’s good news coming out of Africa pertaining to dust.
Scientists are now telling us that dust storms that materialize in the Sahara and spread across the Atlantic can keep down the level of hurricanes.
It seems the brain trust at the University of Wisconsin at Madison has begun to notice that in years when Sahara winds swirl with heavy dust, fewer hurricanes sweep through the Atlantic.
They believe that the dust storms actually suppress the development of hurricanes in the tropical North Atlantic.
Basically the dust absorbs radiation like a warm blanket in the middle of the atmosphere providing a stable environment, which doesn’t promote storm growth.
That’s good news.
And bad.
If dust storms are concentrated enough they can create problems for people with respiratory problems.
A study done at the University of Oxford, UK, in 2004 links dust storms from Sahara Africa to the destruction of coral reefs throughout the Caribbean.
Some of you may remember a story in the Cayamanian Compass in July 2005 about an enormous, hazy cloud of dust from the Sahara that blew across the Atlantic to Florida.
That dust cloud created beautiful sunrises and sunsets for Florida residents and vacationers.
Then in August, just after the dust cloud, came two devastating hurricanes – Katrina and Rita.
Remember, the researchers at Wisconsin said they believe the dust storms only limit Atlantic hurricanes; they don’t stop them.
But hey, we’ll take what we can get.
The sad thing is that while Sahara dust storms may be a blessing to us as far as hurricanes are concerned, it is believed that the dust clouds are increasing because of bad practices in Africa.
It is widely believed that more dust is being kicked up because there is an increased used of four-wheel drive vehicles instead of camels to cross the deserts.
Also to blame are deforestation and the shrinking of lakes.
So, as just about everything in life, we have to take the good with the bad.
We welcome a limited number of hurricanes and would hope that intensity levels of the storms would decrease.
We certainly don’t want to see another Ivan, which wreaked havoc on us in 2004, or Katrina (ravaging Mississippi and Louisiana last year) or Rita (Port Arthur, Texas to Louisiana last year).
We’re still in hurricane season here in the Cayman Islands.
And while we’ve been most fortunate last year and this, it’s no time to let down our guard.
We could still be hit by a hurricane of any magnitude.
So make your hurricane plans at home and at your business if you haven’t already done so.
Offenders who qualify for and participate in the programme will be helping out more than just themselves.
We would hope you’ve got your hurricane supplies stocked and in order. If not, take some time this week to get prepared.
As for the dust from the Sahara, we’ll take what we can get when it comes to fewer hurricanes.
But don’t’ bet on a dust storm to save you from hurricane destruction and devastation.
Weather isn’t something to be taken for granted.
We can’t control it, but we can be prepared for it.
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