Dear Tom,
I lived in Liberia for seven years and we experienced dust storms called harmattans. Do
these winds eventually cause the hurricanes that reach the U.S.
-Patrick McKeen Buffalo Grove
Dear Patrick,
Hurricanes that affect United States often do develop from westward-moving
disturbances the move out of Africa into the Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands.
However, these dust storms are not associated with hurricanes. Instead, the harmattan
winds are dry, dust-carrying winds from the northeast or east that blow in West Africa
especially from late November until mid-March. In summer, an onshore flow called the
southwest monsoon brings cooler air inland to West Africa, undercutting the
harmattan. The harmattan continue to blow aloft in a layer from about 3,000-6000 feet
carrying dust out into the Atlantic.
