May 16, 2007 — With Sahara dust causing a heavy haze across the territory, the V.I. Health Department sent out an alert Wednesday to let people know they need to seek medical help if they fall ill.
"The dust mainly affects those patients with allergies and respiratory problems," said Health Department Medical Director Dr. Audria Thomas, according to a news release from the department.
The dust, which blows across the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara Desert in Africa, causes sneezing, nasal congestion, respiratory problems, eye itching and other allergy symptoms, Thomas said. It can aggravate emphysema, asthma and other lung disorders.
St. Croix resident Bob Goodier said the dust is as thick as he's ever seen it, and triggering his allergies. "I can't see St. Thomas and St. John anymore," he said.
Brian Seeley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Juan, said a particularly thick patch of dust sat overhead Wednesday.
"It will stay hazy, but a little less thick by late today," he said. It will remain hazy for several days, and another thick patch of Sahara dust will arrive Friday, Seeley said, explaining that the dust tends to arrive when the air is stable. He predicted such weather through the weekend.
The dust is not from the Soufrierre Hills volcano in Montserrat, he said. Although the volcano is sending out a few ripples of smoke, the wind is taking that smoke to the west.
Should the smoke increase and wind patterns change, the smoke could reach the Virgin Islands, Seeley noted. The Sahara dust combined with the smoke will increase the haze.
The dust arrivals usually coincide with hurricane season, which begins in a little more than two weeks. Last summer saw a lot of dust outbreaks, Seeley said.
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