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We’ve written before about how dust blowing from China can change the weather in California. Now researchers have begun tracking a huge dust plume they believe they might affect clouds and weather across thousands of miles while playing a role in global warming.

Scientists are using high tech aircraft to study plumes of airborne dust and pollutants that originate in Asia and journey to North America. The plumes are among the largest such events on Earth. The first mission will be launched in late April, when these weather patterns begin in Asia, and the study will continue for two months.
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Two weeks ago, we posted a story about a mysterious white dust that was blanketing the Seattle area. It was described as as thick as snow, and reminded people of the volcanic dust from the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Now researchers think they know what it is.

Local resident Carol White took samples of the dust to Liz Amdall at the Northwest Allergy & Asthma Center, and Amdall immediately recognized it as pollen from juniper trees. On the King 5 News website, Glenn Farley quotes her as saying, “You can tell right away, it’s just very distinctive in the color and the warty surface.”
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Dust can be dangerous. In Redmond, Washington, a mysterious white dust has settled on everything, and residents want to know what it is.

On the King5 news website, Jane McCarthy quotes Redmond resident Bey Braun a saying that it?s “kind of volcanic. It reminded me of when Mount St. Helens blew.” She quotes Beth Marcey as saying that she?s been “living out here in 40 years, I’ve never seen anything like it.” David Creed says, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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Dust can be both good and bad: dangerous dust is flying all around the world, affecting both people and animals.Dust from space may have seeded life throughout the universe. Two huge dust storms on the planet Jupiter have been raging for years.

Bjorn Carey writes in Space.com that dust clouds blowing across the Atlantic Ocean may be bringing dangerous bacteria our way. The dust itself can cause breathing problems for vulnerable people.
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