The dust has already cloaked several Caribbean islands, including Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, offering a preview of what’s to come for the U.S. mainland.

This dust is known as the Saharan Air Layer, or SAL. Every once in a while, like with this upcoming dust storm, the conditions are such that large amounts of dust can get all the way to the U.S.

Although Saharan dust was crossing the Atlantic during the intensification of Hurricane Beryl, the storm was able to strengthen because it developed ahead of the densest plume of dust.