I understand the jet streams and winds patterns that make the dust travel, but why is it only a certain time of year, and shouldn’t it fall as precipitation or if the wind calms down?
In: Physics
1. The big burst only happens in certain times of year based on seasonal winds in the Sahara. There are pretty steady winds close to always blowing from Africa to the Caribbean/Americas, but their are still seasonal winds needed to actually blow across and gather up dust from the Sahara. This doesn’t mean dust only comes over during specific seasons, there’s probably less a grain of dust or two from the Sahara blowing around. But it’s the big “storms” that make the news.
2. It does fall with precipitation or if the winds just settle and let the dust fall out, that exactly what happens. Some will fall out over the Atlantic, some stays stuck up high in the atmosphere until it gets over the America’s.
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