Read on Twitter
So, can the hazy appearance to the sky this morning be linked to widespread dust yesterday in Texas? Let's explore (bearing in mind I have no specific expertise with regards to dust...) https://twitter.com/ChristanaK_WAPT/status/1355934469673414657
I ran through a series of forward and backward trajectory models using different height/time/origin options. It seems apparent the bulk of the dust tracked eastward toward the DFW Metroplex, then turned more southward toward the TX coast, much of it depositing along the way.
However, a backward trajectory model from here this morning suggests any of the dust that had become lofted to around 2,000 ft or so yesterday very well might have moved in our direction and arrived this morning.
To be clear, you can tweak attributes with forward/backward trajectory models to get many different solutions, including whichever one you want to most bolster your own theory (in our chaotic atmosphere, air flows in many different directions!).
To make sure we aren't just confirming what we want to believe, let's see if we can confirm the dust trajectory using satellite imagery. Lazily looking through the options on the COD website, the Nighttime Microphysics RGB seems to provide some help.
Yes, there is a Dust RBG, but again I'm being lazy, and after all, the Nighttime Microphysics one works for so many other things, so why not?
As it turns out, the Nighttime Microphysics RGB affords us the opportunity to continue tracking a dust plume during the night. As suggested by the forward trajectory models, much of it tracked toward the coast, but a band of it continued eastward through the ArkLaTex.
So did some of it continue eastward over Mississippi this morning? It seems quite possible if not likely. Here is a time lapse from my balcony this morning of the hazy sky.
Ah! And more evidence from our local environmental meteorology expert @Cuevman81 https://twitter.com/Cuevman81/status/1355980925482528775
Here's an hourly chart of AQI observations from a station in Jackson showing an obvious uptick this morning. Also an area map of AQI from 11 AM.
