{"id":33012,"date":"2026-08-08T18:57:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33012"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:57:48","slug":"saharan-dust-cloud-the-size-of-the-continental-us-is-impacting-summer-weather-and-you-may-not-have-even-noticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33012","title":{"rendered":"Saharan dust cloud the size of the continental US is impacting summer weather and you may not have even noticed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>(NEXSTAR) \u2013 The days are hot. The storms are few and far between. The sunsets are beautiful. And high in the sky is a layer of dust that has traveled thousands of miles from Africa impacting the weather we\u2019re seeing in the southern U.S. and beyond. <\/p>\n<p>The Saharan Air Layer, often referred to as Saharan dust, is a 2.5-mile thick \u201clayer cake\u201d that starts about a mile up in the atmosphere, explained Jason Dunion, a University of Miami meteorologist who works closely with NOAA\u2019s Hurricane Research Division. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThey roll off of Africa in the summertime every three to five days, and they\u2019re huge. They\u2019re about the size of the lower 48 states as they cross the Atlantic,\u201d Dunion said. <\/p>\n<p>The Saharan dust season usually peaks between mid-June and mid-August and it\u2019s currently impacting weather around the U.S. in ways you may not have even realized. The layer of warm, dry, dusty air tends to break up the development of thunderstorms and hurricanes. <\/p>\n<div class=\"nlp-ignore-block article-content rich-text\">\n<aside class=\"promo-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/5975492-rare-la-nina-may-form-in-the-atlantic-at-the-same-time-as-this-years-super-el-nino\/?ipid=promo-link-block1\" class=\"promo-link__link\" target=\"\" _blank=\"\"><br \/>\n\t\t\u2018Rare\u2019 La Ni\u00f1a may form in the Atlantic at the same time as this year\u2019s \u2018super\u2019 El Ni\u00f1o\t<\/a><br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt really helps to cap the atmosphere,\u201d said Dunion. \u201cIt makes it very hard for thunderstorms and clouds to break that really warm layer.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one reason we may be seeing such a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfla.com\/weather\/tracking-the-tropics\/whats-keeping-the-atlantic-quiet-tracking-the-tropics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quiet start to the Atlantic hurricane season<\/a>. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"715\" width=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?w=900\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6012240\" style=\"width:404px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png 3584w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=160,90 160w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=300,168 300w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=768,429 768w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=1280,715 1280w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=1536,858 1536w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=2048,1144 2048w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=645,360 645w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=320,180 320w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=256,144 256w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=50,28 50w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-1.18.58-PM.png?resize=876,489 876w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 876px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>WFLA meteorologist Rebecca Barry shows a view of Saharan dust in August 2026. See more of her forecast in the video at the top of this story. (Nexstar\/WFLA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cLook at this late-season plume. That is healthy,\u201d meteorologist Rebecca Barry at Nexstar\u2019s WFLA said while showing a map of the Saharan dust plume. \u201cThat looks like a late-May or June plume of Saharan dust. \u2026 It is pretty rare that this late in the season we have such a healthy plume of Saharan dust breaking off from the coastline of Africa and moving across the Atlantic.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>All that dust can prevent storm formation, including tropical depressions that would otherwise turn into tropical storms and hurricanes as they head toward the U.S.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"nlp-ignore-block article-content rich-text\">\n<aside class=\"promo-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/5989271-mini-dust-bowl-could-be-forming-in-the-us-expert-warns-will-el-nino-make-it-worse\/?ipid=promo-link-block2\" class=\"promo-link__link\" target=\"\" _blank=\"\"><br \/>\n\t\t\u2018Mini Dust Bowl\u2019 could be forming in the US, expert warns. Will El Ni\u00f1o make it worse?\t<\/a><br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>Without as many summer storms, the temperature has been rising in the South. \u201cWe don\u2019t really get those cool afternoon thunderstorms that we usually get when we\u2019ve got these dust outbreaks overhead. So they tend to be in the hottest days of the year, and we\u2019ve had heat indexes getting up to 110,\u201d said Dunion.<\/p>\n<p>Even beyond the South and Gulf states, the dust is having an impact. KXAN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/video\/humidity-and-saharan-dust-return-this-week-in-full-force-kxan-forecast-0803\/12031919\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">meteorologist Freddy Vela<\/a> showed back-to-back waves of Saharan dust sweeping across Texas and as far west as Arizona in a forecast this week. <\/p>\n<p>Another side-effect of the Saharan Air Layer: spectacular sunrises and sunsets. As the dust washes over Florida, it scatters the light and can create an orange glow at dawn and dusk.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cTo me, it\u2019s\u00a0amazing,\u201d said Dunion. \u201cIt\u2019s traveled 3,000, 4,000 miles across the Atlantic bu you can still see it.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(NEXSTAR) \u2013 The days are hot. The storms are few and far between. The sunsets are beautiful. And high in the sky is a layer of dust that has traveled thousands of miles from Africa impacting the weather we\u2019re seeing in the southern U.S. and beyond. The Saharan Air Layer, often referred to as Saharan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/AP20174575116856.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}