School is just out, and my family is ready to celebrate summer break, but Florida’s usual bright blue skies have been replaced this week by a milky, washed-out glow. The culprit? A massive plume of Saharan dust—tiny particles that traveled thousands of miles across the Atlantic and are now lingering in our air.
While I’m typically more concerned with extreme heat and hurricanes in the summer months, this dust storm has caught my attention. Through my work at Moms Clean Air Force, I’ve come to understand just how important clean air is, no matter the pollution source. Wildfire smoke, power plant and vehicle emissions, and dust particles all pose unique threats.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Ability to Prepare for and Recover From Severe Weather Threats
At the height of this Saharan dust event, the air quality in Tampa, where we live, shifted from its usual Green (good) rating to the Yellow (moderate) range for PM2.5, a.k.a. soot pollution—tiny particles that can lodge deep in our lungs. Moderate might not sound alarming on a scale that goes all the way up to “hazardous,” but even Yellow levels of pollution can trigger symptoms in vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with asthma or other respiratory conditions.
According to the AirNow app I use to track our local conditions, even on moderate air quality days, people who are unusually sensitive to particle pollution are advised to limit or shorten outdoor activities.
So I was understandably worried about sending my asthmatic son to baseball camp during the worst of the dust this week. In the end, he managed just fine, though he did complain of a minor cough—a small but real reminder that even moderate air quality days can and do affect kids with respiratory conditions. This is why experts agree that we shouldn’t dismiss the risks of moderate air pollution. Pediatrician and Stanford professor Dr. Lisa Patel advised in a Moms interview last year that even on Yellow air quality days, it’s important to take precautions.
“In the Yellow category, I think it’s a good idea not to treat it as a totally normal day. If you’re planning on being outside for a long hike, maybe make it a shorter one,. Reduce your time outdoors,” Dr. Patel advised. “Knowing that kids are more vulnerable, knowing that pound for pound, kids are breathing in more of that toxic air pollution, knowing that we’re starting to erase those air quality gains, and particularly if you live in a place with wildfire smoke, don’t treat the Yellow day like a normal one.”
My colleague Elizabeth Bechard, Moms’ Public Health Manager, reiterated these concerns to me, citing a study that found a direct link between soot exposure and adverse birth outcomes, including increased risks of preterm and early term births.
When I reached out to her with my concerns, Elizabeth explained that Saharan dust isn’t just a standalone issue—it’s the layering of multiple summer threats, like heat, pollution, wildfires, and storms, that makes its impact more concerning. She said, “Any form of air pollution carries potential health risks, particularly for children, pregnant people, people with underlying health conditions, the elderly, and outdoor workers. Given that many of us will face multiple air quality threats this summer—from wildfire smoke to heavy ozone on hot days—it’s a good time of year to make sure you know how to keep your loved ones safe and healthy.”
For me and my family, Saharan dust is certainly something to stay mindful of, and we will continue to take precautions when needed. I’m thankful for the forecasting and resources I have at hand to keep me informed of the risks.
Still, my main focus is the bigger picture climate-related summertime threats: temperatures are already scorching, and hurricane season has just begun. These feel more urgent and disruptive to our daily lives.
Hurricanes and extreme heat aren’t just seasonal inconveniences—they’re growing public health threats with life-altering consequences. In Florida, we’ve seen how one major storm can upend entire communities, cut power for days, and strain emergency services. At the same time, extreme heat quietly takes a toll on our bodies, increasing the risk of heat stroke, dehydration, and even death, especially for outdoor workers, older adults, and low-income families without access to reliable cooling. These are the climate challenges that keep me up at night—the ones we can’t see coming in the air but that we feel in our homes, our hospitals, and our neighborhoods.
The (Saharan) dust will settle, hopefully quickly, and we’ll return to the daily work of protecting our families from the storms and heat waves still to come, especially as funding cuts to the National Weather Service mean meteorologists are “flying blind” in their forecasting, and we continue to break heat records year after year. And we’ll do it all while doing our best to enjoy summer break to the fullest.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Ability to Prepare for and Recover From Severe Weather Threats