Harmattan
[This post was written over a several day period in order to get the images. The time references are not accurate. The day of first writing was February 10, 2012.]
The Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade winds that blows from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea. For the past 5 days, the Harmattan has been with us. This is what Monrovia looks like when the Harmattan hits:
When it first hits, the temperature drops a bit - actually, it’s more like the heat loses its edge and you can be outside and not start sweating almost immediately. But after several days, it gets stuffy, the heat builds back up and it’s there seems no advantage to it. Plus, a fine layer of Sahara dust settles on everything. While walking around trying to find a good vantage point to find a photograph that would show the Harmattan, I wound up with grit in my mouth. Not a pleasant feeling.
Tonight, after talking with Ann, I ran into the USAID Mission Director at the old Embassy Compound. She was commenting that her house (yes, she along with a couple others get a house on the compound) that overlooks the ocean (yes, a house with a view) has seemed really odd the past few days because she can’t see a horizon. Through the fog-like haze, you can see the ocean, but it disappears into a sandy mist that obscures earth and sky. In this shot, you should see the beach and the ocean:
Of course there is nothing.
My colleague Fin became quite disturbed earlier this week. He said normally the Harmattan has passed after 1, 1-1/2 days. The fact that it had been around for 2 full days by that point troubled him. That was three days ago. Perhaps I’m less bothered by it because we had similar conditions in Baghdad. Still, it stands in stark contrast to the normal winds which blow from the south/southwest - the Harmattan blows in from the north east.
Here are similar shots of the above on a normal afternoon:
And of the beach and ocean:
February 17: I write this a full week later than the posting above. The Harmattan lasted much longer than I or anyone else had expected, a full 7 days. On Monday of this week, I noticed that the wind direction had changed. I confirmed it when I went to chat with Ann and noticed that the wind caused waves on the ocean were back to their normal direction, blowing inland towards Mamba Point instead of southward along the coast. Still, it took 2 full days, Wednesday for the Harmattan cloud to be blown back and for us to have blue skies.