The Caribbean’s Saharan dust season is still months away and already a large area of Saharan dust is heading across the Atlantic Ocean.

Eumetsat, the European operational satellite agency for monitoring weather, climate and the environment from space, has posted its image of the week which happens to be Saharan dust moving across the Atlantic Ocean as seen from the Meteosat-12 geostationary weather satellite, 36,000 kilometres above the earth.

(Photo credit: Eumetsat- This image was captured by the FCI instrument onboard Meteosat-12 on February 17, 2026.)

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (NHC _TAFB) posted to X on February 17 that a large area of Saharan dust is evident currently over the eastern Atlantic along the coast of northwest Africa, reaching as far west as the Cabo Verde Islands. NHC_TAFB notes this is more typical of a summertime pattern, but it can happen even in the winter too.

The Saharan dust cloud has also caught the attention of Meteorological Analyst and weatherman Jean Suriel from the Dominican Republic, who estimated the dust cloud to be 31 times the size of the Dominican Republic.

On his official X account, Suriel said most of it will stay over open waters and another part will move toward the Amazon. Suriel noted it won’t affect the Dominican Republic.

Feature Photo credit: @NHC_TAFB)