According to official information from this institution on its Facebook page, from 12:00 p.m. local time, this event will affect Camagüey after crossing the Lesser Antilles and moving west.

The analysis of different forecasting models suggests that the highest concentrations of this atmospheric aerosol will be recorded this Wednesday and Thursday, decreasing by Friday.

International models show a high concentration of these particles on the surfaces of the area, which could affect air quality, for which great caution is recommended to citizens.

Last June, almost the eastern half of the Cuban archipelago remained for several days under a cloud of dust from the Sahara.

This phenomenon rarefies the atmosphere and causes suffocating heat, raising the thermal sensation to 38 and 40 degrees Celsius.

It also causes the incidence of an anticyclonic system, and the rains will be limited throughout the country. The doctor of physical sciences, Eugenio Mojena, adviser to the Forecasting Center of the Institute of Meteorology of this nation reported that these clouds are generated by storms of sand and dust from the deserts of the Sahara and the Sahel, in Africa , with atmosphere heights of 3 to 7 km.

“Once they emerge from the African continent, they move west under the flow of the trade winds, spreading across the Atlantic Ocean until they reach the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, the southeastern United States- United, Mexico and Central America,” the expert recently told the newspaper. Grandmother.

He explained that the dust is loaded with PM 10 and PM 2.5 particulate matters which are very harmful to human health and also contain minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, silicon and mercury.

In addition, they accumulate viruses, bacteria, fungi, pathogenic mites, staphylococci and persistent organic pollutants.

Usually, dust clouds start arriving in our country between March and April, but the biggest waves occur in June, July and the first half of August, Mojena said.

He clarified that, as these clouds are the source of a very hot and dry air mass with low humidity values, they hinder the emergence and development of tropical cyclones by creating a hostile environment. for them, increasing wind shear aloft, which prevents the system from concentrating energy.

Regarding its effects on human health, he said that this dust promotes allergic conditions, asthma, skin problems and other diseases.

However, they have a beneficial side, because, within the minerals they carry, there is phosphorus which helps to fertilize the earth, indicated the specialist.

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