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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reported on Monday that light Saharan dust was expected to continue to expand northward and westward from the Gulf of Mexico this week, further adding to San Antonio's weather woes.
Upper Florida and lower Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana saw the worst of the dust on Monday.
The dust May help push the air quality in the San Antonio area into the lower end of the "moderate" category at least through Wednesday.
In the moderate category, people with heart and lung ailments may want to limit their time outdoors and refrain from heavy outdoor exertion.
San Antonio is already under a heat advisory through at least 9 p.m. on Wednesday due to temperatures above 100 degrees and even higher heat indices. The advisory may be extended.
Adding to the Saharan dust and heat, is light smoke from Canadian wildfires, but it should remain mostly aloft and not at ground level, the TCEQ reported.
The Saharan dust will be mostly light over South Texas through Tuesday but was expected to become thicker on Wednesday. It should not be dense enough, however, to force the air quality from the lower end of moderate into the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category.
Those with heart and lung ailments should definitely limit their time outdoors under that category.
Forecasters said rounds of the dust was a summertime seasonal event for South Texas. The bad news is the dust only helps reduce rain chances and will do nothing to cool things off.
