Sahara dust on the way

A haze of Sahara dust is settling over TT and would become evident by Wednesday evening, a meteorologist at the Met Office told Newsday on Wednesday.

Asked if such weather patterns could bring to TT any radioactive particles in the event of nuclear weapons being used in the confrontation between the US and Iran, he referred Newsday to a “live” map of the world’s air currents (nullschool.net) which did not seem to indicate any particular risk. These air currents were shown toflow predominantly over open seas, but not much over big landmasses such as Iran’s location in the Middle East.

The map showed very few air currents over Iran. Further, the few there were blew towards the Mediterranean Sea. While copious air currents are now blowing from Africa’s northwest coast down into the Atlantic Ocean, this region is actually far from Iran, which is closer to India, Russia and Europe.

The meteorologist also said whether air currents would convey radioactive particles would largely depend on their size, with smaller particles being more likely to be carried away.