Collaborative Haiku Poem – サハラダストストーム

hazy sky
Saharan dust storm
across the ocean

(Yoko Kelley)
かすみ空サハラの砂塵海を超え
かすみぞら　サハラ の さじん　うみ を こえ

At the end of June, the word “Sahara dust” was mentioned on TV for the first time. The “Sahara” refers to the Sahara Desert in Africa, the dust storm that begins there and moves to the north-west is the Saharan dust storm. The 2020 dust storm is so large that it is seen clearly on satellite image, the largest in 60 years. The dust covered the Caribbean Islands and reached North America for the first time. Eastern Nebraska is in the western edge of the dust storm. The hazy sky lasted for one day. A similar phenomenon occurs in East Asia called the “Asian dust storm”, or “yellow sand” in Japanese, which starts in the Central Asian desert and covers large areas of Eastern Asia.

　６月の末、「サハラダスト」との言葉を初めて耳にしました。サハラはご存知のアフリカのサハラ砂漠のことで、強風が砂漠表面のダストを西北方向に運ぶ現象をサハラダストストームと呼ぶのですが、2020年はサテライトでも確認されるほどの60年ぶりの大規模で、カリブ海諸島の町は霧に閉じ込められたと同じ状況になりました。今回、初めて北米にまで達し、ネブラスカ州では東半分がダストに覆われました。日本で呼ぶ黄砂も同じ気象現象で中央アジアの砂漠からの砂塵が東アジアを広範囲に覆います。

Collaborative Haiku Poem
– Yoko Kelley
– Illustration by Norman Kelley
Omaha, Nebraska ネブラスカ州オマハ市