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Sand Storm Headed For Florida Next Week
Miami Herald ^ | 7/22/05 | DAVID OVALLE

Posted on 07/23/2005 6:40:04 PM PDT by Black Tooth

Another storm is headed toward South Florida -- and it's not a hurricane.

Born in the desert of North Africa, an immense cloud of Saharan sand is being swept across the Atlantic Ocean by the tradewinds.

By early next week, South Floridians will experience hazy blue skies, bright orange sunsets and coats of reddish dust on their cars, the National Weather Service said Friday.

''This is not going to be a tremendous event, but it will be kind of interesting,'' said Jim Lushine, a severe weather expert with Miami's weather bureau.

The sand is lifted from the Sahara Desert, piggybacking on the tropical waves that sweep from east to west over the Atlantic. Such dust clouds are fairly common in July and August, although they can vary in intensity from year to year.

''It's really not rare,'' said Joseph M. Prospero, a professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. ``We normally see several extreme dust events each year.''

Air quality is expected to worsen a bit, although experts say the dust shouldn't pose any serious health problems. As a precaution, people with breathing problems may want to limit their time outdoors, said Jim Wheeler, a supervisor with the air monitoring division of the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management.

''Most of it is going to be in the upper atmosphere,'' Wheeler said.

This particular cloud will likely affect the Caribbean basin more directly, and linger over the region for about 12 hours. It measures about 1,500 miles north to south and 2,500 miles west to east.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: duststorm; sandstorm
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1 posted on 07/23/2005 6:40:05 PM PDT by Black Tooth
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To: Black Tooth

Does anything GOOD ever come out of Africa?!


2 posted on 07/23/2005 6:45:09 PM PDT by Normal4me (I'm sweating like a muslim wearing a backpack on a London subway!)
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To: Black Tooth

Just wondering..can any insects hop a ride on this thing?


3 posted on 07/23/2005 6:45:31 PM PDT by stillafreemind
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To: Black Tooth

I'm sorry but my 1st thought was we could use it here. We ran out of sand bags:')


4 posted on 07/23/2005 6:45:35 PM PDT by CindyDawg
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To: Black Tooth

Hurricane Sandy?


5 posted on 07/23/2005 6:48:08 PM PDT by dc-zoo
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To: CindyDawg

You get the sand, but not the bags !


6 posted on 07/23/2005 6:48:27 PM PDT by 11th_VA (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: stillafreemind

Actually, Discovery did a study sometime back and these can carry viruses, acids, pesticides, bugs...A lot of stuff.


7 posted on 07/23/2005 6:49:47 PM PDT by Black Tooth
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To: Black Tooth
''Most of it is going to be in the upper atmosphere,'' Wheeler said.

Oh oh. There goes the ozone. Paging Al Gore, paging Al Gore

8 posted on 07/23/2005 6:51:21 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Government is running amuck)
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To: Normal4me

Moses did, with his people.


9 posted on 07/23/2005 6:52:22 PM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: dc-zoo

We're still near the top of the alphabet. It arrives a bit too late since we've already had "D"ennis, but the proper name is "D"usty.


10 posted on 07/23/2005 6:52:32 PM PDT by ZOTnot ('We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good'--Hillary, 6/28/2004.)
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To: taxesareforever
These dust clouds can include bacteria, fungi and virus.
11 posted on 07/23/2005 6:54:50 PM PDT by Black Tooth
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To: Black Tooth
I guess this is what we get for not ratifying the Kyoto treaty...
12 posted on 07/23/2005 6:56:56 PM PDT by Conservative Infidel (How come they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them??)
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To: Normal4me
Does anything GOOD ever come out of Africa?!

According to PC-revisionist history, everything came out of Egypt...all stolen by Western Civilization.

13 posted on 07/23/2005 6:57:00 PM PDT by peyton randolph (Warning! It is illegal to fatwah a camel in all 50 states)
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To: DTogo
"Moses did, with his people.

And it has gone downhill since then...;-)

14 posted on 07/23/2005 6:57:15 PM PDT by Normal4me (I'm sweating like a muslim wearing a backpack on a London subway!)
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To: Normal4me
Does anything GOOD ever come out of Africa?!

Along with virus, and bacteria, the dust clouds can carry small insects that can wreck havoc on plants and crops. It's happened in the past.

15 posted on 07/23/2005 7:00:18 PM PDT by Black Tooth
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To: NautiNurse

Who woulda thunk it?


16 posted on 07/23/2005 7:00:34 PM PDT by tutstar ( <{{--->< OurFlorida.true.ws Impeach Judge Greer)
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To: NautiNurse
Yea, I saw mention of this in the NHC's midday tropical discussion. There was mention of dust in one of the waves which seemed pretty strange but here we have something on our super one-stop-shopping source for information, Free Republic, that explains it all.
17 posted on 07/23/2005 7:00:43 PM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Iraq is the bug light for terrorists" (Mike McConnell 7/2/05))
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To: Black Tooth
I asked if anything GOOD ever comes out, like diamonds, oil, beer, etc. and all I get is viruses and fungi and democrats and bugs....;-)
18 posted on 07/23/2005 7:04:47 PM PDT by Normal4me (I'm sweating like a muslim wearing a backpack on a London subway!)
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To: Black Tooth

On the bright side, I hear this thing will bring us some bitchin' sunrises and sunsets.


19 posted on 07/23/2005 7:06:37 PM PDT by JellyJam (Headline of the year: "The Painful Truth: All the World Terrorists Are Muslims!")
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To: Normal4me

Coffee!


20 posted on 07/23/2005 7:08:26 PM PDT by blue-duncan
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