Saharan Dust Keeping Atlantic’s Tropical Storms From Forming
- National Hurricane Center drops odds for a storm to develop
- Atlantic remains hostile with the season’s peak weeks away
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Dry air from the Sahara that’s carrying enough dust it can be seen from space is preventing thunderstorms over the Atlantic from strengthening into powerful tropical systems.
The system sits hundreds of miles southeast of the Lesser Antilles, an arc of islands that separates the Caribbean Sea from the central Atlantic. There’s a 40% chance one or more of the thunderstorms may become a tropical depression or storm in the next five days, down from 70% from Thursday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.