There Is Now a 'Godzilla Dust Cloud' Barreling Towards the United States

The Guardian — A vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads to the US with a size and concentration that experts say hasn’t been seen in half a century.

Air quality across most of the region reached record “hazardous” levels and experts who nicknamed the event the “Godzilla dust cloud” warned people to stay indoors and use air filters if they had them.

“This is the most significant event in the past 50 years,” said Pablo Méndez Lázaro, an environmental health specialist at the University of Puerto Rico. “Conditions are dangerous in many Caribbean islands.”

With all that has gone wrong in the Year of Our Lord 2020, I must say that some of the things befalling us at least have great branding people. Murder hornets now have some strong contention for the No. 1 spot atop the 2020 Disaster Name charts from the Godzilla Dust Cloud.

I have never considered the implications of large amounts of dust potentially affecting me. To be honest, I thought that only happened in stories about the Wild West and then just sort of fizzled out once saloons went out of style. But they are apparently still a thing and you bet your ass I'm now on the lookout for the Godzilla Dust Cloud.

Scientists complain all the time that we don't take potential environmental problems seriously enough. Well, you want me to take it seriously? Come up with cool names. "Climate change" does not inspire fear in anyone. You know what does? Earth's Fiery Termination.

Now you have my attention.

I don't know how bad the Godzilla Dust Cloud could be, but my guess is most people will take it a lot more seriously than they would have if the headline was "Dust Moving Across Atlantic."

If you're in South Florida, stay frosty out there because the Godzilla Dust Cloud might be on its way.