For the past couple nights and into next week, we will have some amazing sunsets. The reason for them is so 2020, the 'Godzilla' dust cloud.

The past six months have been the most surreal of my entire life. The list of things that have occurred since we said "Happy New Year" on 12/31/19 is quite a mix of WTF.

As we start the second half of 2020, we have some stuff going on in the sky above us that is absolutely breathtaking to see at night. Because this is 2020, it's not all good. To explain, we have to start at the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is over 3,600,000 square miles and pretty much takes up most of Northern Africa. Dust has kicked up from the gigantic desert and has traveled over 4,000 miles and is beginning to hover over the United States.

This is what I just read from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at usatoday.com.

"The mass of extremely dry and dusty air known as the Saharan Air Layer forms over the Sahara Desert and moves across the North Atlantic every three to five days from late spring to early fall, peaking in late June to mid-August."

What is going on? Am I the only one that is hearing about this for the very first time? I'm a very attentive person and no part of me remembers EVER hearing about this behemoth dust cloud before. It's actually referred to as the 'Godzilla Dust Cloud.' Furthermore, to prove that 2020 is the craziest year ever, the cloud is the one of the biggest and most dense ever. The 'Godzilla' cloud is 2-miles thick.

There's a good side and a bad, when it comes to the 2020 #GodzillaDustCloud (of course it's trending). First, the bad: This dust cloud has the potential to dramatically reduce our air quality during the day. Fortunately, we're all wearing masks right now.

The best part of this giant dust cloud: UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS AND SUNRISES. When dust mixes with water particles in the atmosphere it scatters sunlight, creating these beautiful sunsets and sunrises. With the Godzilla Dust Cloud in the atmosphere, a greater number of particles can refract sunlight into all kinds of purples, pinks, oranges and yellows.

Nothing has the calming effect of a sunset that looks like this.

Why We'll Have Beautiful Orange and Red Sunsets for the Next Week
Zbynek Burival on Unsplash
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