Huge Saharan dust blob cooling the eastern Atlantic

Story at a glance

• A huge plume of Saharan dust is now visible on satellite loops coming off of Africa into the eastern Tropical Atlantic Ocean.

• This, combined with stronger than normal easterly winds of the Saharan Desert, is helping cool part of the far Eastern Atlantic, where the seeds for some hurricanes originate.

• Note, the fact that surface temperatures can cool so quickly also means they can warm just as quickly when a favorable weather pattern takes shape...