I have a much more complicated ? on this general topic...
It seems to me that SOMETHING, not limited to sand by any means, has been blanketing much of the west atlantic, gulf, and caribbean for the last 3 months at least. My habitual quick-take on the weather is NOAA's west atlantic RGB loop and there's a persistent near-invisible 'layer' that appears as SAL would but in all the wrong places. Around the time of the colorado fires I noticed 'it' streaming into the gulf from the north and concluded it was way too extensive to be smoke. Nor was the drought bad enough to be considered a dustbowl exactly.
All but transparent, palely yellowish in the RGB, with discernible limits and clear spaces visible, but extensive... AND substantial enough to diffuse the sun's glint (which isn't so observable now, but really got my attention in June)
So what is it?