Iread recently that a huge cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert has crossed the Atlantic and is about to blow into the American Southeast. This is a lousy break for anyone with respiratory problems, but there also does seem to be something of a bright side to it. The Saharan dust has been known to tamp down the development of tropical storms and hurricanes, especially at the start of the season, which is, like, now. From the Shreveport Times:

The Saharan Air Layer is a warm, dry layer of air, containing dust, that gathers over the Sahara Desert. Trade winds then carry the dust westward across the Atlantic Ocean, and strong winds can transport this dust to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality . ... Saharan dust can li

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